CONSUMERS YESTERDAY began paying significantly more for domestic telephone calls as Cable and Wireless's new rate structure approved by Cabinet in July, became effective.
At the same time the company has announced that it will resume the activation of cellular service on Monday, September 4. The activation of new service was suspended for seven weeks to facilitate an upgrade and expansion to a fully digital system.
C&WJ's customers will now pay 38 per cent more for intra-parish calls, while inter-parish calls have been increased 24 per cent. Also, the $210 line rental to residential customers now moves to $280, a 33 per cent hike. The rate for commercial users has moved from $500 to $660, a 32 per cent increase, while the monthly rental for low plan users has jumped from $100 to $120.
Correspondingly there is a 15 per cent reduction in the cost of outgoing international calls, effective yesterday also, and cellular customers will no longer pay part of the charge for calls made to them. Under C&WJ's Calling Party Pays (CPP) system, only the party calling will pay when a call is made to a cellular phone.
The company yesterday explained that the introduction of CPP does not affect charges for calls made from mobile phones which charges remain unchanged. However, calls made from a regular telephone to a mobile will be billed at $5 per minute during the peak period; $4 per minute during reduced rate period; and at $3 per minute on weekends.
As of Monday, the company will be signing on only new customers using digital mobile handsets compatible with the TDMA IS 136 standard on which its system operates. Existing customers who use analogue handsets have until December 1, 2000 to replace them with compatible digital units.
