BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CONSUMERS have already begun benefiting following a recent plan reviewed by the Eastern Caribbean Communications Authority (ECTEL) to regulate the fixed services offered by Cable and Wireless (LIME) within the sub-region.
This review was made late last week during the 21st Meeting of ECTEL in Grenada, where the Federation’s representative Hon. Glenn Phillip, Minister of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Posts, lobbied for local consumers to benefit from a new Price Cap Plan.
SKNVibes contacted Phillip, who indicated that he was scheduled to meet with the local National Telecom Regulatory Commission (NTRC) in order to guide the regulation of fixed services offered by telecommunications providers.
Some benefits in the new Price Cap Plan are the termination of Access Deficit Charges by LIME to interconnecting providers, the reduction in fixed to mobile rates over a period of three years and additional reporting requirements on LIME for the duration of the price cap period.
Phillip said, “There would be a reduction in the prices for consumers. It was the mandate of the government. That’s why we signed on to ECTEL, so that we could do better to liberalize the market for our consumers to benefit from the initiatives.”
About a month ago, LIME issued a notice to its customers informing that they can look forward to reduced rates for calls from LIME landlines to mobile phones by as much as 20%.
The new regulatory decision has already brought good news to consumers. As of last month, LIME’s landline customers began paying a single rate of $0.57 per minute for calls to any mobile phone at any time of the day or night. This represents a 20% drop in the previous day time rate of $0.71 per minute and a 17% decrease in the previous evening and weekend rate of $0.69 per minute.
In a recent statement issued by LIME, General Manager (St. Kitts & Nevis) David Lake said he is pleased the company is able to offer its customers lower calling rates and help make things “easier for consumers in these challenging times”.
“LIME’s landline service continues to provide consumers with an affordable means of communication and with these new low rates our customers will be getting even more value for their telecoms spend,” he quoted in the release.
This reduction will be felt in all the other ECTEL member states and is the first move under the new 2010 Price Cap Plan for the region.
