As from April 1, British Telecommunications Plc’s tariff charges for its private high-speed lines for internal corporate communications have changed and London N1-based Octagon Telecommunications Services Ltd has been comparing the new lease charges with those of Mercury Communications Ltd. Firstly, Octagon notes, British Telecom’s KiloStream connection charges have increased by 9.5% to ?690 for the same exchange, with standard charges up 9.3% at ?820. A 5% discount is now offered for a three-year contract, 10% for four years, and 15% for five years, where previously there was an additional charge. The 15% rental reduction that was available for some subsequent circuits has, however, been withdrawn. Mercury connection charges, which range between ?1,000 and ?4,000, are more expensive – in many cases significantly. The structure of the rental charge has been brought in line with other British Telecom analogue private circuit charges – circuits more than 15Km long are now subject to two per-Km rentals, one applicable to the first 15Km, the second applicable thereafter. Local end and per-Km rental charges are increased for the slower 2.4Kbps, 4.8Kbps, and 9.6Kbps circuits, and decreased for faster 48Kbps and 64Kbps circuits – local end charges for the slower circuits are up 10.4% and charges per Km are up 24% for the first 15Km, whereas for the faster circuits, local end charges are down 6.3% and per Km charges for the first 15Km are down 17%. For British Telecom’s MegaStream2 leased lines, local end connection charges have been reduced by 9.62% to ?4,700, with the additional per-Km charges down 5.88% at ?400 for the first 1.3Km and down 15.79% for over 1.3Km. The fixed charge for the connection of additional circuits, however, has increased by 30.02% to ?1,178, but for the same serving exchange the fixed charges are down 32.69% at ?3,500, with a 5.88% decrease for the first 1.3Km and a 15.79% reduction for over 1.3Km. The fixed component of the local end rental has been reduced – by 54.77% to ?450, but per-Km rentals have increased by 27.87% to ?390. Main link connections have remained flat at ?368 per circuit and ?21 per Km. Rental per Km, however, is down 2.44% at ?320 for up to 15Km, up 46.79% at ?320 for up to 25Km, then down again by 10% at ?180 for over 25Km. Again, rental discounts of 3%, 7% and 10% are introduced for customers contracting for three, four and five years respectively, and the 20% rental reduction for subsequent circuits has been withdrawn. Mercury’s connection charge for its equivalent service is either ?8,000 for a new installation, or ?2,000 if there is a spare capacity on an existing installation. For a new Telecom and Mercury installation, and for an existing Telecom and existing Mercury (with spare capacity), Mercury works out cheaper. But, if it’s a choice between adding an additional Telecom circuit or having a new Mercury installation, British Telecom is the cheaper option, Octagon calculates.
