Per-Second Billing launches in Zimbabwe. Telcos beat deadline set by Regulator.
Zimbabwe’s three mobile network operators have employed per-second billing before the deadline .The telecoms regulator, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) had given a deadline for implementing the billing change. The POTRAZ had set 30 September as the deadline
The operators had billed customers for the first minute, then every thirty seconds then. Potraz director general Engineer Charles Sibanda highly praised the mobile operators for achieving the target before time.
According to Charles Sibanda, the deadline expires at the end of September so those that have already introduced per second billing have done well.
As per the new tariff schedule that Econet announced, it will cost between US$0.0035 and US$0.0042 per second for a call depending on the network the customer is calling.
KT to introduce per-second billing n South Korea
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Per-second billing will be introduced in South Korea by telecom operator KT Corp from December 2010. Earlier, similar service was announced by another telco SK Telecom. It has been claimed by KT Corp that change will enable savings for individuals of up to KRW8,000 (USD7.14) per year and expected the total annual savings to reach KRW128 billion.
The announcement for this kind of move was made by SKT in February 2010 and it was claimed at that time also that the move would save its subscribers up to KRW16.8 billion each month.
Till recently, the high cost of mobile services has been an area of concern for telecoms regulator the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and its focus has been paid off the latest move by both KT and SKT to introduce the new strategy.
Indian telco’s profit to be hit by lower call rates
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The tariff war engulfing India’s telecommunication industry and extreme competition in the telecom market is likely to hit the profits of the telecom operators in the October-December quarter. A decline of 6% to 13% is expected in Average revenue per user, or ARPU.
Only Bharti Airtel Ltd is expected to post an ARPU of more than INR200 in the fiscal third quarter. The price war was started by Tata DoCoMo by introducing per-second billing plans in June. Reliance Communications Ltd. joined the league with a plan in October by offering INR0.5 per minute, and subsequently all operators launched per-second schemes.
Aggressive billing plans launched by new players entering the market also forced established companies to slash call charges to acquire and retain customers.
100 million sign-ups aimed by 2012: Aircel
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Aircel, an Indian mobile network operator has expressed its aim to increase its subscriber base to 100 million by 2012. According to Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh, per-second billing is unsustainable and constrains EBIDTA margins.
The company will see these tariffs for another year-and-a-half after which consolidation will set in. With tariffs hitting all time low, only value-added services could increase revenues.
Revenues from data services will be focused by Aircel with the cellco hoping to boost the contribution to total revenue from such services to 11% by 2012, up from the current 7% level.
Lower mobile termination rates proposed by Vodafone & Telecom NZ
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Commerce Commission received proposals from Vodafone New Zealand and Telecom NZ on lower mobile termination rates. Since late 2008, the commission has been looking at whether to regulate the tariffs and the entry of a third operator on the market, 2degrees.
Telecom’s proposal will experience a drop of 12 cents of minutes in rate until the end of 2010 and the per-second billing introduced form 1 April 2010. By 2012, the rate will come down to 10 cents in 2011, 9 cents in 2010, 8 cents in 2013 and 6 cents in 2014.
Vodafone will try the same price cuts but from October 2010 as under the current proposal, Vodafone risks of losing around NZD 50 million in revenues. The Commerce Commission will make the recommendations to the ICT ministry in February.
MegaFon to launch mobile network in Alati
Russian national operator MegaFon will launch a network in the Altai territory of Russia in early 2007.
At launch, the network will cover Biysk and Rubtsovsk, Belokurikha, Smolenskoye, Kamen-na-Obi, Zarinsk, Aleisk and the motor road connecting Novosibirsk and Barnaul.
Subscribers will be able to choose the ‘Edinyi’ tariff, which offers per-second billing, free VoIP calls within the MegaFon-Siberia network, 1.50 RUB calls to both mobile and fixed numbers in the MegaFon-Siberia network, and no monthly fee.
Source-
Technorati : MegaFon, Mobile, Russia
Ice Rocket : MegaFon, Mobile, Russia
