LIME Call Charges Plummet!!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley, Gleaner Online Writer

Are exorbitant cellular phone rates a thing of the past?

Well that is what it seems like as the cost for making calls on a cellular phone has seen significant decrease over the last couple of months.

The recent pronouncement by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) of a reduction in the mobile termination rate to $1.10 as of July 1 this year has spurred both telecommunication providers to reduce their calling rates.

Since the announcement both companies have scrambled to release statements assuring customers that the new rates would be passed on to customers and result in cheaper calls. However, the company that has made the first move is LIME.

They have rolled out a campaign that advertises a $2.99 rate for prepaid mobile customers calling any network in Jamaica, the United States, Canada, and landlines in the United Kingdom. LIME customers will enjoy these new rates under the Talk EZ plan.
This new rate reflects a 60 percent decrease in costs for consumers and is effective at midnight on June 7, 2013.

Can LIME sustain its business even while operating with such a low rate?
Well the new rates are a necessary risk, in my opinion, if they want to break ahead in the race for the consumers’ dollar.
In fact, their main competitor Digicel has announced that it has made plans to offer landlines which were previously uncharted territory for the company.

Since calls are billed on a per-second basis, customers have the opportunity to take advantage of this new rate. Of course, LIME hopes that this new rate will attract new customers to their network as well as keep their customers happy.

How will Digicel respond?
The best part about this is that the two companies will be in competition to see which network will be able to provide the lowest cost for their service. This means that either way the consumer wins. That is the beauty of competition. Digicel has ‘signalled that it would turn up the heat on its main competitor “very soon”‘. I can’t wait to hear Digicel’s new rates because this is what Jamaica needs to encourage, healthy competition breeds healthy pockets as consumers get to choose the best price.

So with round two on its way I hope other companies will get into the act and find ways to ease the financial strain on consumers.

What do you think about the new rates? Let me hear from you!

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Tags: Digicel, Lime, rates