According to Costa Rica, the costs associated with the new services, as well as their characteristics, are substantially different from the services given by traditional networks. Therefore, the costs and tariffs should be different. The main difference is the bundling of different services in a given tariff plan or scheme, as well as the use of flat tariffs.
In Switzerland, the regulator has no defined position on this issue yet, since there are as yet no regulated NGN services. Operators are currently running tests with NGN. They consider introducing tariffs based on volume, event-based tariffs and/or flat fees.
In Zimbabwe, the operator Africom takes the view that it should consider newer NGN tariff models. The NGN model of choice depends on the use made of the service, but this presents challenges because it is not well understood by end users. Service use is classified as follows:
– application based e.g. only charge for Facebook, Gmail App, Skype or Video based applications;
– hours of use: Limit user a certain hours a day on certain activities, e.g. unlimited video/web during non-peak hours;
– basic usage rate and extended usage e.g. first Gig used is low and thereafter there is a premium overage charge.