OPTA sets the interconnection tariffs for the coming period

Every year OPTA sets the provisional interconnection tariffs for the period ahead and finalises those for the preceding period. Compared with the previous period, some tariffs for the one from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2000 will be rising. Other charges will remain the same or will decline. For instance, the national interconnection tariffs are to increase by almost 7%, regional ones by 4% and local ones by almost 6%. In the case of the carrier-select companies – those which provide their telephone services to the public by means of a four-digit code which always begins with 16 – the national tariffs for using the KPN network will be increasing by 3%. The regional and local carrier-select tariffs will remain identical. The monthly tariff which KPN is allowed to charge for each access port (a port links KPN’s network to one belonging to any of its competitors) is to fall by 8%.

Simultaneous with its determination of the above-mentioned charges, OPTA wants to decide on the final interconnection tariffs for the period from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999. The tariffs which KPN has proposed for this period have raised eyebrows at OPTA. The latter will therefore be making a separate decision about these tariffs in the near future.

Compared with the previous period, the tariffs for the period from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2000 are to increase. Others will remain the same or will fall.