Dear Editor,

In the land of predictable price increases, a rare price-break opportunity is to emerge this week and I, for one, am excited.

Jamaica expects the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to follow through on pronouncements made by the Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Honourable Phillip Paulwell during his Sectoral Debate Presentation in Parliament last month that the regulator is to announce lower cross-network rates come the end of May.

Come that fast-approaching day Jamaicans will once again be given a much-needed and anticipated price break from what I always thought were fees set too high in the first place.

Importantly, the OUR must act in a ‘once and for all’ manner with its determination. No more tinkering. The new mobile termination rates must reflect where the cost of mobile calling is trending globally. As Minister Paulwell said in his presentation, “voice is dying”. The OUR’s new termination rate must reflect that reality in a way that can add certainty to the market.

This way, Jamaicans can become properly informed consumers about the premiums they will pay in addition to the new wholesale rates.

It seems the OUR’s powers may be limited here because this is where a mobile provider could ignore the new, lower wholesale mobile termination rate and opt not to drop their rates in order to regain lost ground – for example from the Interim rate cut of July 2012 that moved from $9 to $5 per minute.

Let us say the new wholesale termination rate moves from the Interim $5 to $1 per minute; Jamaican consumers will need to watch how the mobile providers react in adjusting their rates close enough to the new price point by asking themselves this question, “If the new rate is $1 per minute…how much above that amount will Digicel or LIME want for itself when they charge me their new per minute retail rate?”

That answer will help determine true consumer preference and perception for value and could even go as far jolting another shift in the share of mobile subscribers more towards even distribution.

Whatever the endgame, Jamaican consumers must come out on top as the true champions of this new economic reality of mobile.

On another score, the OUR, if it plays its cards right, could be seen as consumers’ ‘Knight in Shining Armour’, if only on the point of lowering the cost of one utility.

Christopher Hanson

Kingston