UFC-Que Choisir? Is equally sceptical about the restructuring of France-Telecom’s charges which we noted earlier. In an official handout FT boasted it was “giving” their customers around a billion euros as the charges for calls are reduced in stages until 2007 with a corresponding rise in the monthly subscription fee.

Says the consumer body’s Alain Bezot, “Our calculations show that while offering their customers a billion euros relief on some charges they’re clawing back 2.4 billion in other ways. The whole package is very complicated and can make your head spin but here’s one example of how it works: under the old tariff when you called a cell phone from a landline you got the first 30 seconds for 21˘. No longer. Now you pay 17.9˘ for the connexion and once it’s made you pay by the second. That means the sort of very short call many people make will cost more. In our view, the only real winners from France Telecom’s changes are those who use them as exclusive provider for landline calls – and do a lot of talking.”

From Reporter 110 - Aug/Sept 2005

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