Recently, major carriers offered aid to earthquake victims in Nepal. Before the Earthquake in Nepal, the country saw as much as 90% of its population in coverage. With damaged cell towers only able to provide sporadic coverage, Nepalese people were left with a new challenge of simply letting their loved ones know they were safe. While the Nepalese people struggled with the aftermath, US carriers took action to assist the earthquake victims.
Walmart Family Mobile, MetroPCS, and T-Mobile customers were all allowed free call and text to Nepal until May 16. Verizon waived the cost of calls and texts from the US to all Nepalese numbers through the end of the month. AT&T similarly offered free texts and international long distance calls through the first half of May. AT&T also provided free access to H2O Wireless.
In addition to the waived customer costs for contact, the major carriers have also established text-to-donate campaigns.
Online, Google Voice reduced calls to Nepal down to one cent from nineteen cents while Microsoft has made Skype available for free communication to the region. Microsoft donated One million in cash and in kind donations to a coalition of NGOs called NetHope. NetHope’s primary focus is improving connectivity in disaster stricken areas.