C&W wants metered system for Barbados

The days of Barbadians spending long hours on the telephone and Internet may soon come to an end. In addition to applying for a telephone rate increase, Cable & Wireless (C&W) Barbados has asked the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) to approve a metered rate system for Barbadians. This was revealed by Donald Austin, C&W’s president, during a media briefing at the telecommunication company’s Wildey, St Michael offices. The disclosure came 24 hours after Government issued licences to AT&T Wireless, Digicel and Sunbeach to operate cellular services, ending C&W’s monopoly of the local mobile phone market. “We have asked for an adjustment of the domestic rate for both residential and business and we have also asked for a usage-based price for fixed-to-fixed lines; what is ordinarily called metered rating,” said Glenda Medford, vice-president of C&W’s legal, regulatory and public policy. Austin said that C&W wanted approval of a plan that would see it offer three-line rental packages. The current basic rate of $28 will remain for people who use 2000 minutes or less per month, or just over an hour each day, while C&W would charge $38 for a package of 4000 minutes per month.

For subscribers who want to continue having unlimited use of their telephones the company wants to increase the basic rate by $20 to $48 per month. The C&W top executives, however, said that if subscribers use more than the minutes assigned to their package, then they would have to pay an additional 1.7 cents per minute. Austin indicated too that while special phone features like call waiting and caller identification will incur “slight” increases, international calls will be cut in some cases by as much as 30 or 40 percent, but this depends on the FTC’s response to its application which forms part of the rebalancing exercise. And to get Barbadians accustomed to what some argue will be a culture shock, from next month telephone bills will indicate how many hours were spent on the phone during the billing period. The full effect of the rate adjustments on businesses will be revealed completely when the rate application document becomes available to the public from the FTC.

What has been disclosed, however, is that C&W has requested that the popular PABX key system for which it charges at $101.25 per month be increased to $150 per month, while businesses will also be offered the 2000 and 4000-minute “bundles” from which to choose. The C&W executives insist the rate increase will not bring additional revenue to the company and was intended only to be a revenue neutral exercise. Consultant Olson Robertson said C&W was “playing the public for fools” adding that he will formally object to this application whenever it comes up for hearing before the FTC. On  Austin’s statement that this rating system will not bring additional revenue to the company and was intended only to be a revenue neutral exercise, Robertson  called on Barbadians to object to this request by the telecommunications giant. “They should come out in their numbers, bearing placards.”