Carl Wright <wright@ais.org> (04/06/91)
I am seeking individuals who can discuss how the revenues from international calls are distributed and determined. Any names are appreciated. Anywhere in the world. Carl Wright | Lynn-Arthur Associates, Inc. Internet: wright@ais.org | 2350 Green Rd., #160 Voice: 1 313 995 5590 EST | Ann Arbor, MI 48105
"Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> (04/10/91)
In Digest V11, Iss269, Carl Wright <wright@ais.org> asks: > I am seeking individuals who can discuss how the revenues from > international calls are distributed and determined. Any names are > appreciated. Anywhere in the world. When the story that follows appeared, it brought to mind the the thought that international telecommunications settlements have many participants, but NO experts. Shrouded in a cloud of apparent sophistication, rates are bargained between the telecomm operators of nations, then converted to an artificial unit of currency called a "gold franc." Then, settlements are _supposed_ to be made. However, as the following article suggests, it's "get the rich capitalists" time when it comes to negotiating a split for circuits from the US. But, it gets worse than AT&T would have you know in the article. The other side then sets their outgoing price sky high, which discourages outgoing traffic from their end, thus they have even less to pay. Meantime, your outbound originations go way up, and you owe them most all the time. But to top it all, when they do owe you, they never do pay, just running up the tab for years and years. The "book" way it works is all in the CCITT's Recommendations, but the CCITT carefully avoids any rules about what constitutes a fair division of revenue and how often the bill _will_ get settled. That in mind, see AT&T's latest story about what has been another foreign trade drain on the US economy for decades: "AT&T NEWSBRIEFS "Friday, April 5, 1991 "FOREIGN TRADE - According to the FCC, out of every $1 that U.S. phone customers pay to make international calls, American phone companies keep an average of 25 cents for their share of the connection. The rest - 75 cents - is paid to the foreign phone company in the country where the call is received. At the same time, some foreign countries keep international calling rates for their own residents high to encourage their citizens and businesses to keep out-going calls to a minimum - since the country makes more money from incoming calls. ... In the topsy-turvy world of international phone calling, AT&T gets to keep only 8 cents per minute during peak calls, and it actually loses 14 cents a minute in off-peak calling. ... Today direct dialing is the standard way to phone most countries and the cost of international voice circuits has decreased as much as a hundredfold - but accounting rates have not fallen proportionately. ... "I don't think there's still enough critical mass [of concern] to be able to make a fundamental reform yet," said AT&T's [Tom] Luciano [of international setlements]. <Washington Times, C1)" So, another form of "get the gringo" continues unchanged. International settlements for telecomm sound all gentlemanly in form, but in function they are patently a ripoff.