Two of Alaska's largest telecommunications companies announced Tuesday that they are allowing their customers to make free phone calls to Japan in the coming weeks.
Their decision comes shortly after national phone companies, including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and others offered free calling to Japan in the aftermath of last week's massive earthquake and tsunami.
General Communication Inc. said its mobile phone and land line customers can call Japan for free between March 15 and April 10. GCI customers who called Japan between March 11 and March 14 will receive a credit for those calls.
Alaska Communications said it will offer free calls and text messages to Japan to its mobile phone and land-line customers between March 11 -- the day of the Japanese disaster -- and March 31.
Free calls from GCI and ACS pre-paid phones are not included in the offers. To find out more about GCI's international calling, call 265-5400 or 1-800-800-4800. For questions about making international calls through ACS, call 1-800-808-8083.
Reach Elizabeth Bluemink at ebluemink@adn.com or 257-4317.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
ebluemink@adn.com