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Report on telephone service pricing structure published

The report of the public consultation on the review of the pricing structure of

fixed telephone

telephone services was published today (Thursday), the Telecommunications Authority (TA), Mr Alexander Arena, announced.

"I am happy to see that the consultation paper released in May has generated active public discussion, and hence a high degree of public awareness, on this important subject," said Mr Arena.

"It is our duty to keep the community informed."

The public consultation document was released in May, setting out four options on the pricing structure of local fixed telephone services including maintaining the status quo.

The document explained in detail the developments in telecommunications such as on-line networking applications which have put much pressure on the existing flat-rate pricing structure of fixed local telephone services.

A total of 105 submissions were received during the 2-month consultation period, and representatives from the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) gave media interviews and attended District Board meetings to elaborate on the content of the consultation paper.

Mr Arena said more than one-fourth of these submissions only indicated their preferred options without giving any explanation.

"This has made our job somewhat difficult, as it is unclear to me whether their views were based on careful consideration of the merits of individual options or their responses were unfortunately guided by certain public misconceptions about the review," he said.

"I therefore do not wish to recommend at this stage any particular option for changing the existing flat-rate pricing structure.

"I intend to conduct further studies on the traffic management, network costs and other related subjects under this Review with a view to formulating more refined proposals.