Internet phone dialing plan to slash online costs
Cable pirates to be driven out of business Hadi Khatib
Daily Star staff
A new phone dialing plan will slash internet connection
prices by up to 80 percent as part of the Telecommunication Ministry’s plan to
regulate the sector and discourage illegal cable internet services.
Some 400 cable internet providers, who have so far escaped last week’s Ministry of
Post and Telecommunications (MPT) order to shut down for illegally bypassing the telephone
line connection, will soon find themselves unable to supply connections to more than
100,000 subscribers.
The MPT on Thursday issued a statement outlining an internet package that will compete,
starting Feb. 1, with the $35-$40 per month that current cable subscribers pay for 24-hour
access to the internet (see table).
Different internet access packages, starting from LL19,000 per month for up to 25 hours of
use and ending with LL396,000 for up to 300 hours of use, are arguably better than the
current rates offered through a land-line connection and which currently stand at LL40 per
minute. Simple math quickly shows that peak savings can be achieved through the 100-hour
monthly package (at LL8 per minute), while the second-best consumer rate is for the
55-hour monthly package (at LL11.81 per minute).
The key to understanding the billing of the new plan lies with “up to.” A
20-hour user and a 25-hour user will fall in the same package that charges LL19,000
monthly. Compared to cable internet, there are still savings to be made.
“The average user is online around 45 hours per month,” Bassam Jaber, the
general manager of internet service provider (ISP) Cyberia told The Daily Star.
At 45 hours, users would pay LL60,000 with a cable operator, but the new rates offered by
MPT stand at LL 39,000.
“The rates will drop even further as more users take advantage of the new rates and
as new users are attracted to the internet,” Jaber said.
ISPs have also been warned not to provide a leased line to cable operators or else their
license would be revoked.
Cable operators offered to pay “reasonable” fees to the government in an effort
to remain in business, but the gesture was refused and the decision to close them down was
made final.
Cable operators’ business spread like wild fire when users realized that they paid
far less with cable and the connection was much faster.
“Internet cafes took advantage of that fact and starting supplying their neighbors
and then the neighborhood with a leased line, which ended up hurting the ISP and the
MPT,” Jaber said.
The new system will be in place as soon as ISPs inform their subscribers that they need to
use a 4-digit telephone line to have a connection.
“As soon as that connection takes place, Ogero will begin counting the number of
hours users spend on-line regardless of the deal they have with their ISPs,” an MPT
spokesperson told The Daily Star.
Ogero is the state’s land-line operator. Some users have rate cards that allow them
10, 15, or unlimited access to the internet with their ISP.
“Although internet subscribers can dial in on any four-digit numbers that any non-ISP
company might have, the discount will only apply to numbers issued specifically for
ISPs,” Jaber said.
The MPT statement indicated that regular call rates will remain unchanged at LL40 per
minute. It added that in March, the MPT will allow households to have a second phone line
dedicated for internet use only. Applicants will pay LL50,000 installation fee, plus a
LL5,000 monthly charge, in addition to internet access time, calculated on the fee
structure of the new system.
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