Telecom rental charges upgraded

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 286, 16 May 1989, Page 1

Telecom rental charges upgraded

Telecom last week gave two undertakings to its residential customers.

In a press release, the Corporation confirmed it has no plans to introduce compulsory local call charging for residential customers. And Telecom has said it will work towards the introduction of a universal residential rental charge as upgrading of the rural network and rationalising of the charging system progresses. Managing Director Dr Peter Troughton said the Corporation had received a large number of inquiries from residential customers as a result of the planned introduction of local

call charging for businesses. "There seems to be a widespread belief that we have a secret agenda for the introduction of compulsory residential local call charging. This is simply not true", he said. "The Corporation believes it will be able to operate efficiently and competitively in the new deregulated environment without needing to impose local call charging on its residential customers", Mr Troughton said. At the present time the quality of service to rural customers is still

uneven. The current changing system still contains a large number of anomalies. For historical reasons, rural rental charges vary quite widely. "Some rural customers have had very. poor service", he said. "As the service is improved and the charging system is rationalised, some rentals will of course increase. However, once the upgrading process is complefe Telecom will establish a standard residential rental." "Although rural services will always be more expensive for the Corporation to provide, rural customers will not be penalised."