On Government Policy for 911 and 8888

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Atty. Froilan Castelo, Globe General Counsel. has said that Globe Telecom is ready to comply with the government directive to provide access to 911 and 8888 numbers for government emergency hotline and complaint hotline. All services will be for voice services only beginning August 1.

Globe has long used the 8888 number as its own customer hotline. However, the company will give way to the government request and will instead change to a new hotline number for its more than 57 million customers. The government allowed the company 30-45 days to transition to a new hotline which can be accessed by SMS and voice. Globe customers will be advised of its new hotline appropriately.

The government wants both 911 and 8888 to be executed similar to the 117 hotline maintaining a status quo where only the number changed.

Globe clarifies that it will be strictly complying with the directives of the government of implementing the hotlines to the public. This includes whether calls to 911 and 8888 will be free of charge or not.

"Globe Telecom is ready to transmit voice calls for emergency hotline 911 and complaint hotline 8888 on August 1, as directed by the government. We are also expediting migration of our system to immediately enable transmission of SMS or text messages thru 8888 and we are confident that we will be able to achieve this target within the timeframe of 30-45 days given to us by the government. As suggested by the government to discourage prank calls, we would also like to inform our customers that those calling the hotlines will incur regular voice charges plus an additional P5/call for those calling the 911 hotline. As a telecommunications provider, Globe recognizes the importance of such communication tool for the government to effectively carry out its initiatives for the benefit of the public." —Atty. Froilan Castelo, Globe General Counsel.

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