LIME landline customers will begin paying more to call Digicel mobile phones, starting January 1, The Gleaner confirmed yesterday.

The rate for calls from LIME landlines to Digicel mobiles will be hiked by 21 per cent from $7 to $8.50 during peak hours. However, off-peak and weekend rates will be reduced by seven per cent, from $7 to $6.50.

The move is fuelling a new tele-communications dispute.

Officials of LIME, recently rebranded from Cable and Wireless, confirmed the rate increase but argued that not one cent of that amount would go into the firm's coffers. According to LIME, Digicel imposed the rate increase, which it cannot refuse to pass on to its customers.

Geoff Houston, country manager for LIME, charged that the rate increase was discriminatory, as Digicel is maintaining a lower price for fixed wireless to its mobile phones.

"This is a clear case of discriminatory pricing and abuse of dominance because Digicel is asking LIME landline customers to pay twice as much to call Digicel mobile phones as they charge their own fixed-wireless customers to call those same Digicel mobile phones," said Houston.

"The reality is that almost 70 per cent of the calls from LIME landlines are made during the peak period so the overall impact on our customers is going to be extremely negative," Houston added.

The country manager said LIME has already brought the matter to the attention of the authorities and will take any action necessary to protect its customers.

Break for customers

But Digicel scoffed at LIME's claims, arguing that it was rebalancing its charges, which would result in a break for residential customers.

"We are now seven per cent cheaper than both LIME and Claro for off-peak and weekend rates and it is mainly residential customers who use services at this time, so we believe the response to the rate rebalancing will be, by and large, welcomed by the public," Helga McIntyre, legal and regulatory manager at Digicel, told The Gleaner.

"LIME gets to keep a percentage of the retail price, so for off-peak and weekend calls, they will be receiving less, which might explain why they are unhappy," McIntyre added.

She said the two companies were already in a legal battle because Digicel believes LIME is overcharging for its interconnection service.

Increase within cap

In the meantime, telecommunications watchdog, the Office of Utilities Regulation, (OUR), said it had received notice from LIME about the pending increase.

The OUR said while it had set a cap on the price that companies could demand for calls terminating on their networks, the average increase from Digicel did not breach the cap.

According to the OUR, the price of calls from a LIME fixed line to a Digicel mobile includes retention and termination charges, which Digicel could decide to increase.