Govt to lower mobile phone prepaid service fees
Govt to lower mobile phone prepaid service fees
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications plans to reduce the cost of calls made through mobile phone prepaid numbers by 10 to 15 percent by the end of this year.
“The ministry is looking at making changes to mobile phone service fees in the near future,” the ministry's Telecommunications Department Director General, Mr Xayluxa Insisiengmay, said.
“We want to ensure that service fees for prepaid numbers are not much different from postpaid ones,” he added.
“We will do this because we have been asked by the government to look into service fees to ensure they are appropriate and reasonable. In particular, we anticipate an adjustment in prepaid number service fees, which are expected to be cheaper than at present.”
The charge is currently 300 kip per minute for postpaid numbers and 800 kip per minute for prepaid numbers. The new charges are expected to be 10 to 15 percent lower.
The authorities expect that the new price will come into effect this year. “We will try to finish our discussions and implement the new charges no later than end of this year,” Mr Xayluxa said.
“The goal is to ensure charges are not too high and are competitive with those in neighbouring countries.”
The cost of a telephone call in Laos is a little higher than in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
“The charge in Laos is 300 kip to 800 kip per minute for mobile phones, which is 80 kip to 100 kip higher than the fees charged in those countries,” Mr Xayluxa said.
Laos has five telecoms companies: Lao Telecommunications Company (LTC), ETL Public Company, Star Telecom and VimpelCom Lao Co Ltd, which provide both telephone and internet services; and a new provider, Sky Telecom State Company, which provides only internet service.
Laos had only two telephone companies until the mid-1990s. In 1995, LTC signed an agreement with the government to become the only supplier of telephone services for the next five years.
When the contract expired in 2000, ETL was established, followed by Lao Asia Telecom (Star Telecom) in 2002. Millicom Lao (now VimpelCom Lao Co Ltd) commenced operations in 2003; and the newcomer is Sky Telecom.
Star Telecom is a joint venture between Lao Asia Telecom State Enterprise and Viettel Global of Vietnam.
Local telecommunication companies aim to provide first class services in order to avoid network congestion when the AEC comes into effect at the end of this year.
