Following its price-capping agreement with the UK Office of Telecommunications last month, British Telecommunications Plc has announced details of price increases for inland private circuit services to come into effect from December 1, 1989. The company has also revealed measures to provide a better-quality service. Overall, prices will increase by 11.3%, in order to bring them in line with costs, says Telecom. KiloStream and MegaStream service tariffs will increase to enable Telecom to introduce new digital services, which will operate at intermediate transmission rates. Telecom feels that its prices will still compare favourably with those in other European countries. The company also promises to improve maintenance services for most analogue circuits from April 1990, by providing a four-hour response, 8am to 5pm, six days a week, excluding bank holidays, as part of the standard tariff, and offering the option of Total Care, a 24-hour, 365 days a year service. Furthermore, Telecom says that it has a new reduced charges scheme for inland private circuits, which will be introduced for digital circuits from April 1, 1990, and from September 1, 1990 for analogue services. There will be reduced connection charges for circuits, based on a sliding scale depending on the length of delay for installation, and reduced annual rental charges if the phone company fails to meet maintenance targets agreed with its customers. The rebates will be calculated according to the number and length of down-times.
