Google, Viber change calls rates to help earthquake victims

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April 27, 2015 1:44 PM

Various reactions have trailed the aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday and digital services providers are also responding to the disaster victims.

Viber.

Since the earthquake, getting calls in or out of Nepal has been one of the greatest challenges facing those searching for loved ones.

In a bid to aid communication and render help, American phone companies such as T-Mobile are offering free calls to and from Nepal and a host of digital services are following that example.

Viber, on Sunday, announced that it would switch off its Viber Out billing – a service that lets users make international phone calls at local rates – so free calls would be available to those inside and outside Nepal.

In like manner, Google Voice announced today that it would offer 1 cent per minute calls to Nepal – down from the normal rates of 19 cents per minute.

The company chose 1 cent calls rather than free calls to dissuade spammers from abusing their systems, according to Google’s Asia Pacific Blog. Google Voice is only available in the U.S, but the Hangouts dialer on an Android phone can be used by people outside the country to make calls at 1 cent per minute, using Google Hangouts or Google Talk.

Whether the people in Nepal will be able to make or receive calls and texts is still an open question. Oxfam’s deputy head of humanitarian policy and campaigns, ShaheenChughtai, said in an interview with The Guardian today that phone lines and digital services all around the country remained either weak or destroyed.

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