| Titre | La tarification du téléphone : une réforme de grande ampleur | |
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| Auteur | Jean Le Foll | |
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Revue | Economie et prévision |
| Numéro | no 73, 1986/2 | |
| Page | 21-41 | |
| Résumé anglais |
Telephone charges : a sweeping reform,
by Jean Le Foll.
Several factors have brought about modifications in telephone call charges since 1981 : taxation to support the general budget, the Post Office and the electronic industries, charge variation according to the time of day, charging for local calls according to duration... Are these modifications part of an overall policy to bring call charges into line with the cost of the services provided ? The author attempts to answer this question and explain, which major considerations may determine future changes.
He starts by quoting examples of distorted charges in various industrialized countries and also the results of a recent survey carried out by the Ptt administration to assess the importance of the revenue transfers generated by telephone call charges. He goes on to describe the situation in France, where the telephone service is run as a State monopoly, and then looks at the international trend towards deregulation, the first example of which was the dismantling of Att in the United States.
The overall trend in revenues and particularly the general level of call charges lead to two remarks : on the one hand the undeniable economic and social value of this activity rules out any idea of raising prices to the exitent of restricting the demande for it, while on the other hand, the recent introduction of new taxation calls for an in-depth study on whether the French telecommunications service should be subject to common law company taxation like any other company.
The main points developed in the article concern call charge structures and the different parameters which should influence them. First of all the various types of services provided and the equipment used (lines, exchanges, subscriber lines) and above all the four basic components of charge rates and revenues : the time, date, distance and duration of the communication. Further progress must still be made with regard to call charge scales for calls made at different times of the day, but lowering the prices of trunk calls and increasing those of local calls are two reforms which are already underway and which will have the farthest-reaching effects on transfers between subscribers on the behaviour of the different economic agents concerned. The article concludes by giving an idea of the order of tarif modifications required to bring costs and charges more or less onto the same plane : a reduction of trunk call charges by one half or two thirds and a sharp increase in local call charges. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/ecop_0249-4744_1986_num_73_2_4924 |
