Translated material
Game by new rules
MGTS reported the first results of work in conditions of free incoming calls
The Moscow City Telephone Network summed up the preliminary results of its activities in accordance with the CPP (Calling Party Pays - the calling party pays) principle, which was legally introduced in our country on July 1 of this year. The company's management believes that the transition to the new operating mode was successful. But subscribers clearly have insufficient grounds for such a conclusion.The main thing that CPP brought for MGTS subscribers was the need to pay for calls to federal (colloquially called “crooked”) numbers of cellular networks. This, according to the General Director of OJSC MGTS Alexei Goltsov, radically changed the pattern of financial flows. Until July 1, the company received money from mobile operators for calls from mobile phones to landlines, and now it pays mobile operators for calls from citizens to mobile networks. According to Alexey Goltsov, he pays regularly, without delays and in full accordance with the contracts. Not forgetting, of course, to charge us one and a half rubles for every minute of conversation. It is appropriate to remind in this regard that we do not pay for calls from landline phones to “direct” mobile numbers - cellular subscribers pay for such calls. MTS users either pay per minute (the so-called “forwarding fee”) or pay an additional 305 rubles one-time. per month. Beeline users pay 170 rubles. per month. Megafon-Moscow has so far refrained from charging additional fees to owners of “direct” mobile numbers.
Ninth wave of accounts
The average bill for an MGTS subscriber in August was 236 rubles, of which 200 rubles. -- subscription fee, and 36 rubles. -- charges for calls to federal mobile phones. Many Muscovites are still afraid to call mobile phones from their home phones. There are also directly opposite examples: one talkative subscriber paid more than 18 thousand rubles in August.
The real disaster for MGTS is the huge number of accounts and the sharply increased number of calls to help desks regarding these accounts. In July, the company issued 1.8 million unified invoices (i.e., invoices that combine subscription fees and the per-minute cost of outgoing calls to “curve” mobile phones). In August there were already 2.8 million such accounts.
The phone will not be turned off without warning for unpaid bills; the auto-informer will warn you about the debt (if, of course, it finds you at home). In addition, until December, the time for paying MGTS bills has been increased from two to five weeks. For non-payment of MGTS services, 39 thousand subscribers were temporarily disconnected in August, and 45 thousand in September. This means that no changes occurred here: before the introduction of the “caller pays” rule, this figure was 35 thousand subscribers in May, in June -- 42 thousand, in July -- 49 thousand.
Why were you afraid to call mobile phones?
Muscovites are gradually getting used to free incoming calls on mobile phones and to the fact that they now have to pay for calls from landline phones to federal mobile phones. In July, the number of calls from landline phones to mobile phones decreased by 30%, in August traffic recovered to the usual (pre-reform) level, and in September it increased by 30% compared to August. The reason for the sharp reduction in calls in July is a kind of “anti-advertising” campaign in the press and on television.
In July, the topic of paid calls to mobile phones was actively covered by all media. Moreover, the coverage was, to put it mildly, peculiar: often people were simply misled. The incompetence of television people played a cruel joke on the consumer. After watching the July reports about the “caller pays” principle, many viewers were firmly convinced that calls from landline to mobile phones would now have to pay huge amounts of money, which would be charged almost from the moment the number was dialed. Which, of course, is not at all true: one and a half rubles per minute is a completely affordable price, and the meter in MGTS does not even turn on from the moment the subscriber answers, but only six seconds after the start of the conversation. Only in August did people realize that they don’t need to pay for long beeps when calling a mobile number, and by September they realized that calling a mobile from a landline is in most cases cheaper.
"We didn't expect it"
Sent bills and television “horror stories” caused an avalanche of calls to MGTS help desks. One million hits in July, eight million (!) in August and three million in September. There would be a lot more than eight in August if everyone could reach the information desk. The number of help desk workers was doubled only in September, when there were fewer calls.
To the question of a Vremya Novostey correspondent, “Didn’t you expect an increase in the number of requests in August?” Mr. Goltsov answered honestly: “Somehow we didn’t expect it.” Those. In early August, bills were sent to all those who called on their cell phones, and then all citizens were sent a notification about the need to choose one of three new tariffs. Moreover, the notifications did not really explain anything and did not provide specific information about these tariffs. And after all this, they “somehow didn’t expect” questions from puzzled Muscovites.
An additional multi-channel telephone number 636-06-36 has now been launched, by which you can receive information, apply for repairs and activate additional services. Toward mid-November (when there will be almost no questions left), an automatic interactive voice service will appear to relieve help desk pressure, through which you can submit requests for troubleshooting around the clock.
From the office - at the expense of the employer
As for the need to choose one of three new MGTS tariffs, the discussion and approval of prices dragged on. A final decision is promised this week. Perhaps, as early as December, we will begin to pay for home telephones at new rates (which we must be notified about no later than November 20). For now, we only know that there will be three tariffs: with a relatively low subscription fee and per-minute charging for all outgoing calls, with a high subscription fee without a separate per-minute payment (what we have today) and a combined tariff. We don’t know the exact numbers yet, but when asked about forecasting the share of users who would prefer an unlimited tariff, we heard Mr. Goltsov’s answer: “It’s difficult to predict, since the numbers will depend on the subscription fee. Let’s say, with a “subscription” of 350 rubles . there will be one number of users, at 400 rubles - another." Apparently, you should expect a subscription fee for unlimited communication at the level of 375 rubles.
With the advent of payment for calls from landlines to mobile phones, one could expect an increase in the number of such calls from office phones - at the expense of the employer. However, MGTS does not note a clear trend of a sharp increase in the number of calls to mobile phones from office phones. Perhaps, because a considerable number of requests from organizations have been registered with a request to turn off the “8” on office lines. By the way, from January MGTS subscribers should have the technical ability to separately block access to intercity and federal mobile numbers.