Technology Enables Automatic Dial Code Reroute for New Cofetel Regulations
Plant City, FL (PRWEB) May 4, 2007 -- Phoenix Telecom Group, a provider of prepaid telecommunications services, has added two new Mexico Cellular LD products, Mexico Celular and Mexico Movil, to its vast portfolio of Mexico-targeted cards. Mexico Cellular is one of the largest profit centers for prepaid calling card providers, as it enables Mexicans in the U.S. to make cost effective calls to family and friends living in Mexico, and gives Mexican residents a lifeline to their U.S. counterparts. With approximately 29 million Mexicans living in the U.S., coupled with the growing use of prepaid cellular service in Mexico, discounted international long distance products like Mexico Cellular have been well received by this market.
In November 2006, the Comision Federal de Telcomunicaciones (Cofetel), Mexico’s telecommunications regulatory authority, implemented new regulations for Calling Party Pays (CPP) for mobile users on long distance incoming calls. As detailed by Pyramid Research in a 2006 report, under this plan, the Cofetel extended the CPP (in place already for mobile to mobile traffic) to include international and domestic long-distance incoming calls to mobile phones eliminating any additional fee on the receiving mobile user. This initiative, which lowers overall rates for mobile subscribers, is primarily aimed to benefit lower-income and rural users (who generally have prepaid services) to increase their long-distance coverage.
One of the biggest hurdles that has accompanied this regulatory change is the way calls are being routed to Mexico cellular phones. According to a November 15 article in The Prepaid Press, with long-distance calling-party-pays, Mexico-based users have to dial 045 before the area code for domestic calls, while international callers have to dial “1” between the country code and the area code. So, in addition to making sure that the interconnection fee is charged to customers, it is necessary to change dialing patterns to recognize the exchange codes for Mexican mobile customers, then adding the “1” between the country code and the area code.
“Since the introduction of these new regulations, many carriers have not made the necessary changes to the dial code routing, leaving it up to the user to dial them,” explains John Gill, president of Phoenix Telecom. “When our sales people would solicit retailers to carry our line of cards, they would tell us that the Mexico Cellular cards do not work, so they do not wish to continue carrying them. Of course, the majority of the cards out there do work, however, neither the users or retailers knew that the ‘1’ had to be added between the country code and area code.”
To remedy the problem, Phoenix Telecom, a facilities-based long distance carrier, implemented the dial code reroute directly in its switching platform, thereby eliminating the need for special dialing on the part of the user. Distributor Frank Palaez from Brandon, Florida, who specializes in the Mexican market, stated, “Unfortunately many of the Mexicans have not been educated in the new dialing changes which has caused much frustration and returned calling cards. This new feature from Phoenix Telecom is a god send and sales are booming.”
For information on distributing or retailing this popular line of Mexico Cellular products, which now includes 6 brands, call 813.737.2158.
About Phoenix Telecom Group
Phoenix Telecom Group is a provider of telecom products and services, including calling cards, DID, VoIP, 800 service, prepaid long distance, and prepaid wireless. The company has offices in Plant City, Florida and Phuket, Thailand. Visit Phoenix Telecom Group online at www.phoenix-tel.com, or call 813.737.2158.
Contact:
John Gill
President, Phoenix Telecom Group
813.737.2158
www.phoenix-tel.com
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