Universal service is currently unavailable and uneconomic. The VP is critical. It improves teledensity and ensures universal access. The VP is an owner-operated payphone. A GB member takes the phone under lease finance of GB, buys service from GTC, and sells services to villagers.
Customers pay cash for using the phone.
GTC buys air time in bulk and sells it to the VP operators. GTC uses GB's infrastructure to reduce management costs. The Philippines is composed of 7,000 islands with 72 million people. In the early 90s, there was one telephone for every 100 people. Today, there are nearly 10 phones for every 100 people.