| MCA publishes decision for fixed interconnection rates
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
As most of you already know, the amount of money operators have to pay each other when passing a call from one to the other, is regulated by MCA (Malta Communications Authority). Occasionally, MCA publishes a document that dictates what these rates should be for the next year or so. This is done for both mobile and fixed operators. In fact, mobile interconnection cost is always getting lower, however, we have never yet seen any of these cost savings passed on to the end user.
A few days ago, MCA published the new rates for fixed telephony interconnection for 2007. Basically, this affects mostly Hello (Melita Cable), and Sky Telecom. In 2006, the rates were 0.81c/min during peak hours, 0.559c/min during off-peak, and 0.214c/min during the night. Although on first glance these rates seem to be low, it is worth noting that a Maltacom-Maltacom call during off-peak or night rates, was being charged at a lower rate than the interconnection rate, which is supposed to be wholesale! The new rates make a bit more sense. They are at 0.544c/min during peak, 0.376c/min off-peak, and 0.144c/min during the night (and weekends). Therefore, operators like Hello can afford to drive their rates even lower if they want to, or maybe offer lower rental fees... or simply keep the money they save all for themselves, which in most cases is what happens.
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 January 2007 ) |
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