In a statement issued earlier this month, Jean-Pierre Fourre, president of the French Post & Telecommunications commission of public service, expressed his worry over the government’s decision to postpone France Telecom’s planned July 1 debut of progressive local call tariff rises. Fourre, whose commission is charged with applying the 1990 Post & Telecommunications reforms, asked the government to honour its commitments to France Telecom concerning tariff reform. It is important, he said, that the State keep its commitments so that France Telecom can achieve its global financial objectives, which were fixed in an accord between the company and the State for the period 1991-1994. A France Telecom spokesman said the government’s decision to postpone the tariff reform just meant that it would happen later, but he could not say whether it would be in two months or two years. He added that the reform constituted a recalibration rather than an increase in local tariffs. We’re just trying to get a better balance between the cost of local calls and the cost of calls between the big cities in France, he insisted.
