The introduction of the new Maximum Tariffs is envisaged in 2 stages: for the period from 15.07.06 to 31.10.06 inclusive, and the second – from 01.11.06.
At the first stage, an increase in tariffs for the use of local telephone communication services is planned by an average of 35%, and for rural – by 30%. At the same time, it is envisaged to increase the number of untariffed minutes provided against the subscriber fee for the population from 175 to 200 and to reduce the number of minutes for which a 30% discount is provided from 1800 to 840 minutes. For long-distance telephone calls within the region, tariffs have been increased by an average of 10%, while tariffs for long-distance telephone calls during peak hours within Ukraine have been reduced by an average of 15%. In addition, tariffs for international telephone communication services have been significantly reduced from 20 to 70%, depending on the direction.
Now the subscriber fee for telephone use for budget organizations and the population will be 9.92 UAH (for telephones with time-based billing) and 14.18 UAH (without time-based billing), for other users – 15.6 UAH and 22.28 UAH respectively.
The cost of one minute of conversation for all users of telephones with time-based billing will be 4.5 kopecks/min. (all tariffs are indicated without VAT).
At the second stage (from 1.11.2006), an increase of 15% in the fee for the use of local telephone communication is planned.
However, the tariff level for calls from fixed network subscribers to mobile network subscribers will be reduced by 20%.
Tariffs for the use of telegraph communication within Ukraine have been increased 3 times taking into account the cost of providing services, tariffs for ordinary telegrams in the direction of CIS countries have been increased 2.86 times, for urgent ones – 2.67 times, the amount of payment for international telegrams with foreign states remains unchanged.
The Commission believes that the introduction of the new Maximum Tariffs will positively influence the improvement of tariff regulation of telecommunications market entities, and will reduce the level of cross-subsidization existing in the telecommunications market, will allow partially ensuring coverage of costs for the provision of local telephone communication services, in particular to reduce the loss-making nature of rural telephone communication. The simultaneous reduction of tariffs for international calls will raise the competitiveness of fixed-line operators and allow them to work in the liberalized telecommunications market.