Fixed Simulator - Model assumptions

This page describes the various assumptions that are used by the fixed line simulator. Assumptions are necessary to perform an accurate calculation.

Assumptions have to be made either because the user does not know the useful data or because the introduction of all the necessary data would render the use of the simulator not much user-friendly.

The simulator does not currently contain assumptions on the operators' regional market shares as these data are not available for the moment.

Assumption name Description
Operator Market shares The Operator Market Shares show the percentage taken by every operator on the fixed telephony market.

In general most operators in Malta charge a different rate per minute (or per call) depending upon which operator you are calling. So for example if your subscription is with Operator A and you make a call to a subscriber of Operator B then you will normally be charged more than if you made that same call to a subscriber of Operator A.

For this reason it is important that the simulator knows the percentage of the user's calling time to each operator.

The market shares assumptions are necessary when the user of the simulator cannot spread his calls over the different operators.   On the initial screen of the simulator the user is asked what percentage of calls he makes to a particular operator.  If the user doesn't know the answer to this then distribution has to be performed according to the market shares of the various operators.  

Average Call Durations The Average Call Durations show the average time spent on a call dependent upon whether the call is rated per minute or per call. It is also detailed for each type of call because typically a user will spend longer on a call to fixed lines than the relatively more expensive mobile phone.  

The Average Call Durations are needed because during the calculation process some parts of the costing process need to know the number of calls that were made for the minutes being costed.  To do this the minutes are divided by the average call duration to give the number of calls. An assumption has to be used because it is very rare for a user to know how many calls he made for each particular call type.

Here are the cases where the number of calls made is needed:

  1. Calculating the cost of per call rated minutes - some tariff plans charge by call rather than by minute
  2. Calculating the cost of call set up fees - these are fees that are charged by operators for each call irrespective of how long the call lasts

The average mobile operator call duration is used when the mobile operator has no published average call duration. The Mobile Virtual Network Operators or MVNOs - of which there are many who are providing a service to the Maltese market - are these category of operators.

Call Time Splits Call Time Splits determine on an aggregate basis calls to the different call types as well as to the consumer's network.
Miscellaneous The Miscellaneous assumptions are used in various places when costing a fixed line tariff plan and are in general not really assumptions but global values that are needed.

The Standard Line Rental Charge is the monthly line rental charged by the incumbent fixed line operator i.e. Go. This figure is needed as it is part of the monthly cost to a subscriber even if they subscribe with Go or with another operator. Normally other operators will not enter a line rental charge into their tariff plans because they do not charge line rental - however the user will still normally have to pay line rental fees.

The name of the incumbent operator identifies the incumbent operator in Malta i.e. Go. This is used when costing call minutes to a plan of a 'virtual fixed operator'.  Normally operators in Malta will only have rates to the main or primary operators i.e. Go, Telenet and Tele2. For all other operators the rate of Go will be applied.

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