LIME Jamaica, saying its plan is to 'rebalance' income streams from its landline segment, will, in one month, charge customers less to make international calls, but more to call locally.

Effective July 12, postpaid landline customers will pay $10 per minute for calls overseas, down from $15.75 - amounting to a 36.5 per cent cut in rates.

Cuba is exempt from the programme.

But LIME plans to make up the call revenue foregone from phone subscriptions, on which rental charges will grow by 12 per cent, moving from $700 to $785 per phoneline.

Off-peak calling rates will also be increased, from 65 cents per minute to 99 cents, up 52 per cent.

"It's hard to compute what the charges relating to domestic calls will be as this will depend on customers calling patterns and usually for the first few months after a rate adjustment these will change," said LIME country manager Geoff Houston, in effect sidestepping a query on what the impact would be on the average phone bill.

LIME says the different changes will occur mid-summer, in the July/August period.

The latter adjustment aligns the cost of calls, bringing the charge in line with the peak call rate.

By going for the higher rate, local phone calls will now be more expensive.

But the company's country manager tried to position the revised rates as not too bad a deal for callers.

"At less than $1 per minute, LIME landline to LIME landline calling remains a most affordable alternative for our customers," said Geoff Houston in a company statement.

"And even when the economic environment forces up the cost of providing the service LIME is still making it affordable for our customers."

To lighten the impact, LIME will allow unlimited free calls to other landlines on its network, but only on Sundays and within a limited window, from July 12 to August 30.

The company last adjusted fixed line call rates in August 2007, then adding a nominal five and nine cents to existing peak and off-peak rates for postpaid calls.

Prepaid packages were billed at $1.35 per minute in peak time and $1.05 per minute off-peak, up from $1.25 and $0.99, respectively.

business@gleanerjm.com