djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (01/06/91)
A Singapore member of the NEWLIFE BBS network recently mentioned that Singapore has just switched from flat rate local calling to a pay per call basis. This will undoubtedly have a big impact on BBSes there. I will try to get some more details on this, unless TELECOM Digest readers have some more info on this themselves.
limhl@hpsgm2.sgp.hp.com (Hui Lin Lim) (01/11/91)
In comp.dcom.telecom, djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes: > A Singapore member of the NEWLIFE BBS network recently mentioned that > Singapore has just switched from flat rate local calling to a pay per > call basis. This will undoubtedly have a big impact on BBSes there. I > will try to get some more details on this, unless TELECOM Digest > readers have some more info on this themselves. I'd just like to clarify that Singapore has not yet gone to time based charging yet. This is scheduled to begin next year. Apparently the new rates will allow the equivalent of 17 minutes of "free" calls (compared to the present rates). The stated reason for changing the charging scheme is supposed to be the large number of fax/data calls now becoming more frequent. I doubt that it will significantly change BBS usage as the new rates are still quite low but it will probably result in large increases in revenue for the Telecom authority. One expected benefit of this is that junk faxes should be reduced (since these are essentially free to the caller right now). HuiLin