RCS & RDS bet on cheaper telephony

Romania Cable Systems & Romania Data Systems (RCS & RDS) group could provide fixed telephony services at 30% lower tariffs than the current levels as of January 1, 2003. The cut would be possible only if the interconnection tariffs proposed by the National Communications Regulating Authority (ANRC) are enacted as they are now. “We want to provide full telecommunications services – voice, video, data and Internet once the market becomes deregulated. The integration of these services is one of our major edges on the liberalised telecommunications market,” RCS & RDS general manager Alexandru Oprea said. The RCS & RDS group is ready to provide fixed telephony services for business clients as of January 1, 2003, as the service consumption on this segment consists in long-distance calls mainly. ANRC on November 15 announced the tariffs proposed for linking the networks of the telecommunications operators locally, nationally and internationally, in effect since January 1, 2003.  The tariffs are as follows: 0.0115 euros/minute for local interconnection (inside each county), 0.015 euros/minute for linking to RomTelecom’s regional exchanges and 0.02 euro/minute for all the connections to the switch routing national and international calls. The current interconnection tariffs in Romania are $0.05/minute for linking the mobile telephony networks with RomTelecom’s and $0.12/minute for linking the national fixed telephony operator’s infrastructure with the one of the mobile telephony companies. ANRC’s proposed tariffs are 60%-75% lower than the current ones. ZF