MiPhone, will, beginning March 1, increase its calling rates for new customers from $4 per minute to $7 for calls made within its own network.

The company said that higher operational costs associated with its islandwide roll-out had forced it to increase its rates.
The cell provider says that existing customers will be exempt from the new rate, and that new customers could benefit from improved calling plans.

Though the basic cell rate will rise to $7 per minute from $4, there will be a number of new calling plans that the company says will enable its customers to save on calling rates.

Alex Hill, MiPhone marketing director, said that the new rate would allow the company to generate additional revenue to help pay for the cost of installing "new cell towers," and to service the higher "electricity bills" associated with these towers.

In the last quarter of last year, MiPhone completed its islandwide network - three years after it began offering service in Jamaica.

The investment in the infrastructure was funded in part from a US$30-million World Bank loan.

Hill said that the new rate structure being introduced would woo customers to the MiPhone network despite the increase in its core cost. For even with the increase, MiPhone has the lowest cost among the three cellular companies that provide service in Jamaica.

"We think that when they see the plans they will switch," he said, adding that customers would not be "dissatisfied with the new rate".

The cellular company is expected to flesh out details of its new plans within the next few weeks, with Hill saying that "competitive reasons" preclude such disclosure at this time.
While not disclosing hard financial numbers on the performance of the company, Hill said mobile service revenues had increased by 64 per cent in 2004 over the previous year, and that the active subscriber base had jumped by 32 per cent to 87,000.

The active subscriber base includes those who had used the phone within the last 90 days.

Though operational costs had risen, the company said that revenues had grown much more and that it was servicing its loans "very well".

Hill is projecting that MiPhone's subscriber base will reach 100,000 mark this year, with the company attributing its past growth to the focus on the business segment.

Last year, business-related revenues grew nine fold over the previous year, and contributed 12 per cent of the company's revenues.

Without providing specific timetable, Hill said that in the future, existing customers may be required to switch to the newer plan - that will cost $7 per minute.

Rival cellular service provider Digicel says that its subscriber base is at 1.3 million, a growth of 33 per cent since April last year. Cable & Wireless says that its subscriber base is 730,000, having grown from around 600,000 a year ago.

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