With this agreement, PLDT customers will be able to make local calls to Globe subscribers for free in Albay, covering the following cities and municipalities: Daraga, Guinobatan, Legazpi City, Ligao City, Oas, Polangui, Tabaco City, and Camalig.

“Now, regardless of their telco connection, our subscribers in Albay may call their friends, family members, and business associates anytime, without worrying about long distance charges,” said PLDT Sub-Zone Head Cristopher S. Dizon who is in-charge of the company’s Bicol Customer Service Operations.

Dizon noted that since PLDT opened its business office in the capital Legazpi City in 2011, the company’s subscriber base has been growing steadily amid the booming tourism industry and flourishing businesses in the province.

PLDT’s Legazpi business office serves walk-in telephone applicants, actual installation and repair, accepts bills payment, services report repairs, and billing concerns. It offers voice, video, and data or triple play services on a single internet protocol (IP) platform.

According to Dizon, the IP backbone runs on PLDT’s Domestic Fiber Optic Network, the most extensive fiber optics network in the country – now 88,000 kilometers long – which facilitates the direct transmission of the internet data to our gateway, providing subscribers fast and reliable internet experience.

Earlier, PLDT has likewise enhanced its services in Sorsogon in the southern part of the Bicol peninsula, which enabled PLDT customers to call Globe subscribers in the area for free, after an interconnection arrangement with Globe. With this development, Sorsogueños may now make free phone calls by simply dialing the seven-digit telephone number to their friends and business partners in Sorsogon City, and the surrounding towns of Bulan, Castilla, Gubat, Casiguran, and Donsol.

PLDT earlier reported a significant growth in its fixed line business for the first half of the year, bucking the global downward trend in telco fixed line services, on the back of double digit gains in data and broadband revenues.

“Our fixed line business continues to deliver a strong performance, defying global trends, as business and revenues from our retail and corporate customers continue to grow at a steady pace,” PLDT President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said.

PLDT fixed line service revenues jumped by 6% year-on-year to P28.1 billion at the end of the June 2014, underpinned by sustained double-digit growth in data revenues which already account for 53% of the total fixed line service revenues.

Fixed broadband revenues, accounting for 46% of total fixed line data revenues, grew by 14% to nearly P6.8 billion as of the first half, driven by an 11% growth in subscribers. As of June this year, over 47% of PLDT’s total 2.2 million fixed line subscribers have fixed broadband subscriptions.