Jordan Times
Wednesday, December 22, 1999
New mobile phone service to open under
Fastlink-govt deal
By Tareq Ayyoub
AMMAN — Minister of Transport, Telecommuni-cations and Post Jamal Saraireh on Tuesday said a second mobile telephone company would begin operating in Jordan next September.
Sarayreh said the licensing of a new mobile phone company would help enhance the overall quality of local services and lower the cost of calling from mobile phones.
The minister was speaking at the signing of a memo of understanding with the Jordan Mobile Telephone Services Company, Fastlink, under which the company agreed to give up its domestic mobile phone services monopoly.
Saraireh told reporters that under the deal with Fastlink, subscription charges would come down and the cost of mobile calls would be further reduced.
The minister also predicted that more investors would channel money into the telecommunications sector as a result of government “concessions” embodied in the agreement.
He said the government had extended these new “concessions” to Fastlink to ensure the introduction of lower fees for company services to subscribers.
The concessions included exemptions from customs duties, a 10-20 per cent reduction in government income from a revenue-sharing deal, and lower interconnection fees.
According to the agreement, the cost of Fastlink subscriptions will drop from JD21 to JD15, while the cost of mobile calls will drop by 30 per cent.
Michel Dagher, executive director of the Fastlink in Amman, said that the cost of a mobile-to-mobile call would be cut from 100 fils to 80 fils per minute during regular hours, and from 185 fils to 145 fils per minute during peak hours.
The cost of a call from a mobile to a fixed telephone would be reduced from 245 fils to 165 fils per minute during peak hours, and from 140 fils to 105 fils during regular time, he added.
Dagher further said that a call from a fixed phone to a mobile would cost 145 fils per minute during regular hours, down from 185 fils, while it would dip to 95 fils during peak time, down from 120 fils.
The Fastlink official said that more rate cuts would be introduced next year, adding that such a step would be taken after consultations with the ministry.
He added that ministries, large companies and other institutions which had high numbers of Fastlink subscriptions would benefit more from these reductions, and would be given “good” packages in the next few weeks.