Timed charging - effects on internet use

[John Houghton]

The report in question is the "Telecommunications Outlook 1997"  posted on
OLIS on 6th December, 1996 (DSTI/ICCP(96)23 and attachments).


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______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Timed charging - effects on internet use
Author:  Tony.Barry@anu.edu.au (Tony Barry) at AARNET
Date:    18/3/97 10:30 PM


For ahit its worth there appears to be some sort of study on the effect of 
timed charges.
  
>From EDUPAGE -
  
>HIGH ACCESS CHARGES = LOWER NET USE
>A forthcoming study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
>Development indicates that high Internet access costs, not language 
>differences, are what really dictate a country's Internet usage.  While U.S. 
>customers pay only the Internet service provider's charge and nothing for a 
>local phone call, most other countries have a system where they allow both 
>access charges and a per-minute local phone call charge.  "You can talk 
>about cultural differences.  You can talk about how there are less personal 
>computers in Europe than in the U.S.  But the fact is that prices charged by 
>European phone companies for local calls are slowing down the market," says 
>a telecommunications analyst at the OECD.  The report shows that consumers 
>in the most expensive countries, Mexico and Ireland, pay more than $90 a 
>month in access charges and phone bills for 20 hours of Internet use, 
>compared to Canada, for instance, where 20 hours cost about $21.  (Wall 
>Street Journal 14 Mar 97)
  
Tony
  
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