The Localphone Blog

Hot on the heels of our recent price reduction (Jan 26th – “New Recession Busting Rates to Call India“) I am pleased to announce yet another drop in the cost of calling India. Effective immediately our new rate to India landlines and mobiles is a market-leading 1.9p GBP / 2.9¢ USD / 2.3c EUR per minute.

This is not just a short-term gimmick or promotion, and there are no terms, hidden fees, or minimum top-ups; just low rates and a great quality, direct route to India.

Thanks to the enthusiastic response to our most recent round of price drops we have already been able to return to our suppliers and negotiate a better rate; savings we are passing straight on to you.

Don’t forget; the longer you call, and the more friends you recommend, the stronger our position to negotiate even better rates on your behalf. I’d like to thank you once again on behalf of everybody at Localphone for your continued loyalty and support.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

Last week I wrote to let you know that the Government’s tax on calls to Pakistan would result in a price rise for Localphone. Because these rates were being imposed upon us we wanted to give you advance warning, even though we were still negotiating with our suppliers. I’m pleased to report that one of our carriers has presented us with a solution that allows for a smaller increase than we previously thought possible.

Effective immediately our rates for calls to Pakistan have fallen to 7.95p / 10¢ / 9c per minute to both landlines and mobiles. We will of course continue to work with our partners to reduce rates to their previous levels as soon as possible.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

Localphone aims to gradually reduce our rates over time as our service grows and we are able to negotiate better deals with our suppliers. Unfortunately from time to time an external force interferes with this plan and as of Sunday 1st February the Pakistan government’s tax on companies that handle calls into the country will cause a huge surge in our suppliers’ rates.

Inevitably this means we will also have to increase our rates, and from the morning of February 1st the cost of calling Pakistan landlines and mobiles will be 10.3p for UK customers, 11.4c for Euro customers, and 12.5¢ per minute for USD customers.

Please understand that Localphone will not profit from this increase, and will in fact make less money than before. We have set these new prices at the bare minimum we can afford to continue to function as a business. We are confident that as with the last time the Pakistan government dictated a price increase in 2008, we will quickly be able to lower our rates again as the market settles.

This is a situation that we deeply regret, and feel unfairly persecutes Pakistanis abroad and legitimate companies trying to provide quality calls. All companies that use legal routes into Pakistan will be affected so we expect our competitors will announce similar rate increases shortly if they have not already.

Please rest assured that we value each of our customers who call Pakistan and will work tirelessly to secure more favourable rates for you as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continuing loyalty and support.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.