Telecom Fiji has today confirmed the implementation of its new local call rate charges within the same region which could see customers paying more, depending on the duration of the call.
Chief Executive Officer, Rohan Mail said TFL local calls within the same region will change from 16 cents un-timed for residential customers and 12 cents for 60 minutes for corporate customers to 8 cents per minute in 2011 for all customers.
He said TFL is in the process of re configuring its local call pricing specifically for each designated region to deliver to customers a simple and easy comparison to mobile rates.
Mail said for instance, a local call within the same region lasting 2.5 minutes under the new charging scheme will cost customers 20 cents and the 8 cents per minute rate charged by TFL remains significantly less than the calling charges of mobile service providers.
He said TFL has informed customers on the rate changes via recent biller inserts and will continue to keep them informed on TFL's products and services.
Mail's comment comes after the President of Fiji Retailers Association, Himmat Lodhia claimed that the local Telecom charges have gone up with very little publicity.
He said the public outcry will come only after people realize the hefty bills they will come up with at the end of January.
However Mail said TFL has been in the forefront of reducing call charges to customers even before liberalisation.
He said as a former Director of both TFL and ATH, Lodhia would know that during his tenure International call charges averaged over $1.50 per minute in 2005 however it has been significantly reduced currently costing only 16 cents per minute for frequently called destinations, a reduction of around 90%.
Story by: Sneh Chaudhry
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