HANDPHONE USERS (Time-based charging)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Choo Wee Khiang asked the Minister for Communications whether he will consider applying the principle of time-based charging to handphone users.

The Minister for Communications (Mr Mah Bow Tan): Mr Speaker, Sir, handphone users today are already paying according to usage. Apart from the subscription of $50 per month, they pay a traffic charge of 20 cents per minute for both incoming as well as outgoing calls.

Mr Choo Wee Khiang (Jalan Besar GRC): Sir, I must declare that I am a handphone user. I pay the bills every month and I know there is a flat rate charge. But what I want the Minister --

Mr Speaker: Mr Choo, could you ask your question?

Mr Choo Wee Khiang: Yes. Could the Ministry consider, instead of charging a flat rate of 20 cents per minute, a two-tier charging system, like in the case of residential telephones, ie, to differentiate between off-peak and peak periods?

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Mr Speaker, Sir, the residential telephone subscribers enjoy a peak and off-peak tariff structure mainly because there is a very distinct peak and off-peak usage pattern. When Telecom charges the off-peak rate, which is half the peak period rate, there is sufficient capacity during the off-peak period for such off-peak traffic to be handled. However, I do not think there is such a distinct peak/off-peak usage pattern for handphone users. Nevertheless, I will ask Telecom to look into this matter and see whether it is feasible to implement an off-peak rate.