You're reading: MTS launches three-kopeck fee for SMS delivery report

MTS, one of Ukraine’s top two mobile phone service providers, is launching a Hr 0.03 fee for SMS delivery report for its subscribers starting Nov. 15.

According to MTS press secretary Viktoriya Ruban, it will remind users that there are real costs for this service.

“Launching this symbolic fee, we will get our subscribers to pay attention to this service,” explains Ruban. “They can decide if they need it and whether turn it off in their phones’ settings or keep using it. It’s easy to turn the service off.”

As Ruban said, MTS “doesn’t hide anything” from subscribers. “All the information is posted on the operator’s website. It’s being announced in the welcome audio message of the contact center, and we provide SMS mailing,” Ruban says.

Most operators don’t charge for this service which has long been included in basic packages. In an apparent effort to raise additional revenue, MTS has decided to charge for it. But not all MTS subscriber knows about the charge. Many are bound to be unhappy.

One of them is Yuliya Rudaya, who’s been using MTS for more than five years.

“Hr 0.03 is expensive,” says Rudaya. “It should be free. What I will pay for? It’s their normal function – to let me know whether my message has been delivered or not.”

Mykola Rodin, also an MTS subscriber, called the new charge “a shameless rip-off.”

“People shouldn’t pay for that. It is like selling air. I am surprised and confused with even the idea of such innovation. I am turning it off right now,” Rodin added.

Neither Kyivstar nor life), the other two big mobile operators in Ukraine, plan to implement such a fee in the near future.

“We think that such a service as an SMS delivery report is been considered by users as a basic,” said Oksana Rudyuk, head of corporate relations at the life:) operators. “It’s the same for incoming call number recognition. There are many subscribers, who even think this service is being delivered by the mobile phone, not operator.”

Meanwhile, MTS doesn’t think the charge will harm the company, which it says offers the lowest SMS rate among competitors.

“I want to call your attention to the fact that the price of SMS stays the same. In fact, it is the lowest on the market,” says Ruban. “I think this issue is being overblown on purpose.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Alyona Zhuk can be reached at [email protected]