LIME Jamaica has put on the market an alternative to its World Direct plan for international calls that sacrificed convenience for security, requiring customers to input a lengthy code to complete a call in what came to be viewed as a cumbersome system.

LIME is now using prerecorded telemarketing calls or robocalls to advise of the new and much more flexible plan, International Direct Dialling - no codes or operator assistance required.

"Our customers now have the option to choose what's best for them," said LIME country manager Geoff Houston.

IDD calls are priced the same as World Direct at $10 per minute.

But a World Direct call requires inputting the 113 international operator code, plus a PIN or access code, followed by the number being called. The caller listens for recorded instructions and is taken through the rest of the process.

One error requires a repeat of the procedure.

At introduction, the system was meant to be a saver for the company, offering a mechanism to track disputed foreign calls, and a convenience for customers, who could place calls without having to wait on the availability of a company-paid operator.

Lengthy process

Instead, fixed line customers began to avoid the service because of the lengthy process, opting for the direct dialling offered by cellular service providers as mobile usage grew and international calling rates began to fall.

But just how much restricted calling has affected LIME's business, Houston is not sure.

"It is difficult to say if any revenue was lost because of the security code feature," Houston said in response.

"However, it provided immeasurable value at a time when fraud and bad debts were rife, because of unauthorised use of both our business and residential customers' lines for overseas calling, and the resultant customer satisfaction."

LIME does not disclose revenue performance on products or business lines, citing the intense rivalry that characterises the sector, but within its most recent disclosure of outpayments is the suggestion that its international business is not robust.

Outpayment fees paid to other telecoms on whose networks LIME Jamaica calls terminate - local and foreign based - fell 18 per cent from $6.8 billion to $5.6 billion year on year at March 2009.

LIME itself acknowledged at publication of its annual report mid-year that some of the decline was linked to a fall in international call traffic, as well as elimination of 'low margin' plans.

Unrestricted system

Now, Houston and his team are banking on the new unrestricted system to re-energise the international calling market.

"LIME has responded to our customers ... we have given them that flexibility," Houston told Wednesday Business.

"However, we know that some customers still want that added security to prevent unauthorised persons from using their lines to call overseas," he added, "and those customers who are able to keep the World Direct Service which provides a security feature."

The billion-dollar fall in outpayments coincides with a continuation of the decline in revenues, which dipped four per cent, from $22.89 billion to $21.99 billion at March 2009.

Revenue peaked at $24.7 billion in FY2007.

Falling income

LIME's falling income also coincides with the further opening up of the market to rival providers of phone and internet services.

Within the international calling market, LIME faces competition from mobile leader Digicel which offers the International Talk Plan at call rates equivalent to $1 per minute under two packages - one for a prepaid $1,000 and the other for $1,250 per month.

Otherwise overseas calls costs $17.75 per minute, prepaid and postpaid.

Claro Jamaica's international package costs $999 for 1,000 minutes for calls to mobile and fixed lines in the United States and Canada, but only landlines in the United Kingdom.

Flow Jamaica, under its Flow Go package quotes regular phone rates at $895 plus tax for 180 free minutes, while Flow Unlimited allows calls throughout the month for $1,595 plus tax.

LIME charges $10 per minute, landline to landline, to call the US, Canada, and UK.

The company also offers the WorldPak service for its estimated 700,000 mobile customers, priced at $200 for 200 minutes or $1,199 for 1,200 minutes.

Otherwise it costs $15 per minute for calls from a LIME mobile phone.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com