The PUC declared a new package of phone rates today and it's being hailed as the first attempt to set utility rated based on the true cost of providing a particular telecommunication service.
So, according to the PUC what is the truest, most just, closest to cost, price for a local telephone call? Well, it's 10 cents, which is just what you're paying right now. As we found out today, except for a few wrinkles, the new rate package, looks a whole lot like the existing one.
Dr. Gilbert Canton, Executive Chairman PUC
"The PUC has the duty to make sure that the rates for telecom are fair, reasonable, and cost based. We also have a duty to balance the interest of all parties to make sure that the company is viable, that consumers are provided good services at affordable rates, and that government's policy and objectives are met."
"We came up with rates that are similar or equal to the rates that are currently being charged by BTL except for maybe the reduction in the floor for the international long distance to the United States but in doing that we do realize that there is a group of people out there that there is an affordability issue with and what we have done is then carved out a niche for those people to ensure that everyone in the country will be able to access telephone services in the near future and be able to afford it."
So the story is that's what's old is new and what's new is old unless you own a pre-paid fixed phone. For those phone users with an economy package, the new deal is that the line access fee will now only be $5 a month down from $10, and you won't have to sign the 6 month contract but yes, you'll still have to buy those maddening phone cards and pay the same rates for calls.
Dr. Gilbert Canton,
"It is estimated that some 5,000 to 6,000 existing customers will benefit from this special assistance. BTL is also projecting a rollout of services to some 5,000 new customers in rural areas in the next year of which many will be able to benefit from this program."
Benefits will also be coming to those persons who use international direct dialing. The PUC says that long distance calls made using this service at peak times cannot exceed a ceiling of $1.60 which is an 8% decrease because it currently stands at $1.70 per minute. And while the PUC made a decision to place a ceiling on those calls, it chose not to actually set the long distance rate; it also did not set rates for cellular calls or Internet service. If it looks like the PUC is ducking out of its statutory responsibility, chairman canton stressed that it's about leaving market forces to work:
Dr. Gilbert Canton,
"I don't think we've ducked it. I think we've faced it in the fact that in the law it says that where there is competition forces, the markets should set the rates not the PUC."
But who do those market forces benefit? The PUC has upheld BTL's controversial December 2001 rate package almost to the number, maintaining rates for local calls, national long distance calls, residential line access and installation fees, and only modestly lowering line access fees for business from $60 to $50 which BTL had proposed anyway. Since introduction in 2001, these very rates have seen BTL's earnings skyrocket in the past three years so apart from establishing that the controversial rates are reasonable if not legal, who does this tariff review process really serve?
Dr. Gilbert Canton,
"The expectations have been a lot greater of the PUC and what people think the PUC should do is somewhat misunderstood. So we have been trying very hard to first of all work out that thing - what is the PUC all about, what is the PUC's role and I'm hoping sessions like this will bring that out more. We are not a consumer advocate and we are not a company advocate. We are to balance all these different interests and to try and come up with something that is fair and reasonable for everybody.
But if you feel its not reasonable for you under the PUC act you can send in a complaint to the commission and demand a review but that won't hold up these rates from being implemented on June 1st.
Also announced at today's event was that finally BTL and Intelco Have agreed on a limited interconnection package. It sets rates for Interconnection between Intelco's cellular phones and BTL's cellular and fixed networks. But Intelco is still not happy a late evening release says that the new rate package does not allow for Interconnection to its fixed line network, which connects the Government of Belize.