Briefs	E-mail PagePrint Version

NEW SAN DIEGO - MEXICO TELEPHONE SERVICE STARTS

MONROVIA - Telscape Communications, a telephone company serving the Southern California Hispanic market, has inaugurated a new one cent rate to Tijuana and lower rates to all of Mexico as part of its Simple 3 package.

The company's new plan was created "to address the calling needs of San Diego consumers who frequently call Tijuana," according to a spokesman for Telscape.
 
"These consumers pay high international rates and monthly access fees when they place their calls to Tijuana," he said. "Telscape is making this rate available without making customers pay any additional monthly fees."

The Simple 3 package is priced at $21.95 per month for local and long distance access, plus three features, such as Call Waiting, Caller I.D. and Call Return.
 
The rate to Mexico's frontier region other than Tijuana is 10 cents per minute. The rate to the interior region is 20 cents per minute.
 
Existing Telscape customers in San Diego with the Simple 3 plan will automatically receive the new rates; no additional action is required. New customers can call 1-800-835-7227 for additional information and subscription.

CALLPHONE USAGE OUTSTRIP LANDLINES, FCC SAYS

WASHINGTON, DC - Nearly a third of the phone calls last year that traditionally would have been placed on a home or office phone were instead made on cell phones, according to a recent report published by the Federal Communications Commission.

The market phenomenon is known as "displacement."

Reported by CNET News, the FCC also found in its eighth annual competition report that wireless revenues last year were $76 billion, or about 30%, of the entire telecommunications sector revenues. Both the displacement and revenue figures are among the highest ever recorded.

The average cell phone subscriber made 427 minutes of calls every month in 2002, a 12-percent increase from 2001, the FCC found. The number of mobile telephone subscribers also rose from 128.5 million to 141.8 million, or nearly half the population of the US.

The rest of the telecommunications industry remains in a three-year tailspin, brought on by intense competition, lower capital spending by businesses and global economic conditions.

In general, the FCC report found the cell phone market the most competitive of the entire telecom sector, which includes traditional landlines, broadband and soon television. 

Lobbyists for the telecommunications industry were quick to cite the finding as proof that the phone industry doesn't need competition-spurring regulations. Powell and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps are among those calling for regulations to help increase competition in rural areas, where there are fewer cell phone providers than in cities.

"Year after year, the FCC's competition report serves as a potent reminder that the competitive marketplace delivers the lowest prices," said Tom Wheeler, president of the Washington, DC-based Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association,  the cell phone industry's biggest lobbyist.
 
"Yet, regulators, Congress and the states refuse to let competition work its magic. Instead the industry faces meddling, mandates and more taxes and fees," he said.

Go back, or read the latest briefs:

TRADE

empty