Long distance rates – a barometer of progress ?
At a small Asian mall where I normally have my monthly haircut I saw a sign at a store window : “ FREE OVERSEAS CALL – 30 MINUTES”. It was a promotion for a startup company competing in the VOIP ( Voice Over IP ) or voice over the internet space. The ad was true and you can call for free to any of the 20 countries the company covers under its unlimited overseas plan. Unfortunately, RP was not included in the list. I already got a sense that RP is a long shot, considering the ludcirous long distance rate it charges compared to other countries. I blogged about this issue in 2007 and things haven’t changed. After a couple of years, RP rates have just gone down a tad 2 cents per minute on the average, from 13 cents down to 11 cents. Pretty pathetic considering that other countries have opened up, making their countries accessible for business.
This company offers 9.9 cents per min for cell phone but 11.9 cents for landline. Still high. Moreover, businesses use landlines more than cell phones. Very high compared to India, where the rate dropped from 7.9 cents to 1.9 cents over the last 2 years. Now this tells me that India is open for business. True to India’s reputation of being the world’s largest call center outsourcer, its cheap long distance rates certainly helps in promoting the business. Contrast this with the high rates to RP because a clique of RP telecom carriers are playing their selfish game of enriching their treasure chests, trying to hold on to their monopolistic practices. Blame the government for its lame policies, reneging on its mission to promote the interests of the country first, allowing itself to be manipulated by the powerful bigwigs of the telecom industry. While the rest of the world are opening up and embracing deregulation, RP is acting only on the interests of a couple of telecom providers, whose main mission is the preservation of their obscene profit margins and the systematic decimation of potential competitors.
For as low as 5 bucks extra per month some providers can give you unlimited calling to 50 countries. Why are India, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand on the list and not RP ? Here’s another pathetic example – a Tagalog sounding provider offering unlimited calling to 40 countries for a fixed monthly fee. The only problem is RP isn’t on its list of the 40 countries. Why shoot yourself in the foot with the Tagalog name when Pinas isn’t even on your frigging list ? The irony is I get a lot of telemarketing calls from Pinas, offering prepaid telephone calling cards so I can save money on the ludicrous long distance rates. I don’t need the stupid calling cards – they’re being sold here too. I need cheap rates with the likes of other Asian countries. Don’t expect RP to be in the list of countries that want to do business with the rest of the world anytime soon. It’s government is more interested in fattening the profits of its carriers rather than encouraging economic growth through trade and commerce.
Talking about government bureaucracy or idiocy in Pinas, years ago its telecommunications agency proposed a rule that stores selling Bluetooth capable devices must employ a licensed ECE (Electronics and Communications Engr) else it would be restricted from selling the product. LOL. Now that’s like requiring a licensed mechanical engineer for store that sell bicycles 
Now you know where the problem lies – if you can’t fucking understand how Bluetooth works , how can you possibly manage a country’s telecommunications infrastructure effectively? 
MARIAH – DIVALICIOUS AT 40
As mentioned in my previous post, the wifey and I had our pre-Valentine celebration at the Mariah Carey concert at the ACC last February 9th. The show was supposed to start at 730pm with the group RydazNrtist opening the show for 20 minutes with Mariah to follow. It turned out the opening act started at around 800pm and Mariah came out 45 minutes after the group finished its number, duh. What a wait. I actually thought she came out because of the loud boos from the crowd who were obviously pissed by the long delay. When the curtains opened, Mariah was perched on a swing high up in the ceiling , looking resplendent, wrapped in her gold colored gown. She slowly descended to the stage floor amidst the loud ovation from the crowd. For those who were served food at the executive boxes, she showed up at dessert time After a song two male dancers promptly stripped the bottom part of her gown transforming her attire into a mini skirt revealing her legs. Alas, the almost 2 hour wait was instantly forgotten. The mere sight of her sufficed for an unequivocal forgiveness. 
It turned out that Mariah was suffering from a slight cold and was incessantly sipping a combination of tea, apple cider and water from a small table at the corner of the stage. At one point, she offered her wine glass filled with cider to a die hard male fan at the front row. She begged forgiveness for her cold and the lipstick mark on the glass. I knew the man couldn’t care less. I wouldn’t – even if she had swine flu – hahaha Just joking – I got the swine flu vaccine, remember ? 
One thing a bit disappointing about Mariah was she barely moved , no matter the tempo of the song. I wasn’t sure if it had to do with her well endowed (materiales fuertes) baggage or the 5 inch heels which made her look like she was tiptoeing on the stage the whole time. But who really cared. Her divalicious image nullified all her shortcomings. She’s a gorgeous diva who can really sing – period. The production wasn’t all that great, the dancers were amateurish, the sound system was too loud , the reviews were so so but heck I would pay to watch her if she was singing inside a garage. Maria Carey turns 40 in March. Still divalicious – without a doubt
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