Re: Different tariff structure for Internet Calls viz a viz Voice calls?

["Tee Emm" <tm@super.net.pk>]

Rishi Chawla wrote:


> Dear all,
> 
> I am looking for model countries, where there is different PSTN dial
> up tariff structure, for calls made to access Internet as against
> calls made for normal telephony.  Also does any one know of
> countries, where calls made for accessing Internet are unmetered or
> have lower tariff than normal telephony. Relevant links will be
> highly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks and regards
> 
> Rishi Chawla

Pakistan is one such country.  Government has introduced
(around almost two years ago now) special numbers (called
Universal Internet Numbers) to ISP that begin with 131.  Call
made to these UINs are not multimetered.  And this is not the
end of the facility.  In an effort to extend the reach of
Internet, the government decided to make these UINs 'local'
for remote adjoining cities where there is no operational ISP
available.

Hence, for example, TandoAllahyar is a small town near
Hyderabad (Sindh) can dial in the UIN of ISPs operationg in
Hyderabad and it will only cost the dialup user a single,
non-multimetered local call.  However, if the same user has to
call someone in Hyderabad over normal telephone, he will have
to pay Rs 4 per minute as TandoAllahyar is a remote city from
Hyderabad.

This has helped the government increase the reach of Internet
from just a handful of cities to around 350 cities in the
country.  While the set up is not ideal (as sometime in some
cases there are limited channels available between remote
cities and the main cities and there has to be a segregation
between voice and Internet calls, but this still is a awesome
facility available to Internet users in Pakistan to which they
are duly thankful to the government in general and the
Ministry of Science and Technology in particular.

Regards

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