High local telephone call rates are barring much of the world, particularly Europe, from logging onto the internet although in some countries, most notably Mexico, Turkey and New Zealand, Internet service providers represent an equally high financial barrier to Internet access. The Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) says that people in many countries in Europe […]
High local telephone call rates are barring much of the world, particularly Europe, from logging onto the internet although in some countries, most notably Mexico, Turkey and New Zealand, Internet service providers represent an equally high financial barrier to Internet access. The Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) says that people in many countries in Europe are deterred from using the internet on the grounds of cost rather than because of the more commonly quoted problems of American cultural bias and English language use. OECD researchers say they have uncovered a high correlation between low local telephone call rates and high internet usage. For example, per capita internet use is among the highest in the world in Finland, Sweden and Iceland where telephone bills are also among the lowest in the world, while in Ireland, where telephone charges are among some of the highest, internet use is relatively low. Internet users in Ireland may spend only $15 a month on ISP charges but have to pay up to $150 a month on telephone bills for 20 hours of peak time ‘surfing’. As a result, the OECD reports that in the second quarter of 1996, 17% of Americans used the Internet, compared to only 7% of Germans and a meager 3% of the French population. However, the OECD believes that deregulation of the telecommunications market in Europe over the next year should help reduce telephone bills although in the short-term, local bills are likely to get higher. The OECD says nationalized telephone companies in Europe have for years subsidized local call charges by inflating the price of international calls. As competition has started to bite first in the international market so local telephone call charges have steadily risen.
