Verizon Waives Charges for All Residential Long-Distance and Verizon Wireless Calls From U.S. to Haiti, From Jan. 12 to Jan. 31

NEW YORK, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- To expand its support of Haiti following last week's devastating earthquake, Verizon will waive all long-distance usage charges for calls from its residential landline and Verizon Wireless phones to Haiti, from Jan. 12 through Jan. 31.^*

"We want to help alleviate some of the agony being experienced by our customers trying to reach loved ones in Haiti," said Susan Retta, vice president of consumer products for Verizon. "Waiving the calling charges will help our customers focus on tracking down and keeping in touch with their family and friends without having to also worry about the cost of the call."  

Beginning Wednesday (Jan. 20), all calls made from a Verizon 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.**  (For more information on Verizon Wireless, visit http://news.vzw.com/.)

Additionally, customers with the Verizon International Single Rate plan who have either 300 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.

Verizon Wireless customers have pledged more than $6 million to the American Red Cross through texting. Verizon Wireless has already transmitted more than $2.9 million in pledges to the Red Cross, representing all of those made by Jan. 15.

The Verizon Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm, and Verizon employees have pledged more than $600,000 in donations to support earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti.    

Of the $600,000, more than $500,000 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.  Post-paid calling card charges to Haiti will also be waived.

**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