Verizon Waiving Prepaid Long-Distance Phone Card Charges for All Calls From U.S. to Haiti Through Feb. 14

NEW YORK, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- To further extend its support of Haiti following the recent devastating earthquake, Verizon will waive all Verizon Prepaid Phone Card charges for all long-distance calls placed from the U.S. to Haiti, through Feb. 14.  

Last week, the company waived charges for all calls from residential landline* and Verizon Wireless phones to Haiti, from Jan. 12 through Jan. 31.

"Many individuals prefer the flexibility of using a prepaid phone card, especially to make calls overseas to keep in touch with family and friends," said David Skogen, group manager of prepaid services for Verizon. "We want all of our Verizon Prepaid Phone Card customers to get in touch with loved ones in Haiti without having to worry about using up their packages of minutes."

When a customer uses a Verizon Prepaid Phone Card to call Haiti, no minutes will be taken off the card, regardless of when it was purchased.

Verizon Prepaid Phone Cards can be obtained at many retail locations across the U.S.

Last week, Verizon announced that all calls from a residential landline or a Verizon Wireless phone to Haiti will be rated at $0.00 per minute.  Verizon and Verizon Wireless will also provide credit in future bill statements for long-distance charges for calls to Haiti that were made since Jan. 12.**

Additionally, customers with the Verizon International Single Rate plan who have either 300 minutes or 500 minutes of long-distance calling can call Haiti without using any minutes from their time-allotment blocks.

Verizon Helping Haiti

Verizon Wireless customers can aid American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti by texting "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 from their personal phones. Verizon Wireless is waiving the text-messaging fees, and 100 percent of each $10 donation goes to the Red Cross.  The $10 donations will appear in customers' next regular monthly bill.

At the end of last week, more than 760,000 Verizon Wireless customers had used text messaging to make a donation to the American Red Cross, and Verizon Wireless transmitted $4.84 million to the Red Cross, bringing to $7.82 million the total amount the company has sent to the aid organization since the crisis began.  The total amount represents all of the pledges made by Verizon Wireless customers through noon on Jan. 20.

In addition, the Verizon Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm, and Verizon employees have pledged more than $1 million in donations to support earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti.    

Of the $1 million, more than $900,000 has been raised through the Verizon employee disaster-relief matching-gift program. Under the program, the Verizon Foundation matches employee donations dollar for dollar, up to $1,000 per employee, to two nonprofit organizations, World Vision and Food for the Poor, that are providing aid in Haiti.

In addition, the Verizon Foundation has awarded grants of $50,000 each to World Vision and Food for the Poor.

*Only long-distance usage charges associated with calls made from residential landlines terminating to wireline or wireless destinations in Haiti will be waived from Jan. 12 - Jan. 31.  All other fees including taxes, surcharges, monthly recurring charges (MRCs), minimum spend levels (MSLs), monthly minimum charges (MMCs), etc will continue to apply.

**If long distance calling fees were charged, credits will be issued in a future bill statement.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 89 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 230,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $97 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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SOURCE Verizon