Maltacom yesterday announced two new offers which, said group CEO Steve Muscat, prove that the company is in for the marathon and will certainly not be the one to run out of breath.
The services were launched yesterday at a press conference.
The Ten21service makes VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) international calls easier than ever before. In fact, to call abroad with the cheaper VOIP rates, all one has to do as from today is to dial Ten21 (1021) before the international prefix and the number being called.
The rates start from as little as 1c5 per minute to the US, Australia, most of Europe and Canada to 9c for Libya and 12c for Tunisia. International calls from mobile are also cheap, starting from a surprising 1c5 per minute to the US and Canada and increasing to over 10 cents for the nearer mainland Europe and North African countries mentioned.
The company also announced cheaper rates for its internet phone service, IPhone, making it more accessible. The IPhone, like the VOIP, is basically on-line telephony, which means that there is no call charge between IPhone users. Furthermore, as from yesterday, no rent is charged for the service.
All that is needed is an ADSL internet line and a phone set or a computer that can be used as an IP phone. For those using their computers, free software is being made available from www.iphone.com.mt. Alternatively, IP phones can be purchased locally. Although similar to a regular telephone, IP phones often include multimedia features such as video-casting of conversations.
Moreover, conscious of the wish of many customers to keep their conventional phone sets, Maltacom is also making available a unit which converts the regular phone set into an IP phone.
The IPhone service carries the same long distance call rates as the Ten21 service. The service has been in place for the past year on an experimental basis, group chief operating officer Joe Azzopardi told journalists at yesterday’s press conference. “Now, it is being enhanced and made widely available,” he announced.
Both services will be available to billed and Easyline pre-paid customers. The Malta Standards Authority will be giving Maltacom a permanent two digit prefix for IP phones, which will simply replace the 21, used before regular telephone numbers. The prefix should be announced by the middle of next week. In fact, Maltacom will be sending a letter to its current IPhone subscribers explaining the change once the new prefix is announced. At the moment the prefix is 28.