The cost of a long-distance call for some Ooredoo mobile customers is set to jump 50 percent in mid-March, the telecom company has announced.

Ooredoo said this week that its Shahry postpaid customers would pay Dhs99 a minute to call more than 150 countries as of March 15.

That changes the current rate of Dhs66 to call India, Saudi Arabia, the UK, US and many other countries that are listed on the company’s website.

The prices of calling locations that cost more than Dhs99 a minute, including Algeria, Macedonia and Morocco, remain unchanged.

Rising costs

The upcoming hike largely brings Ooredoo in line with local rival Vodafone Qatar, which currently charges postpaid customers Dhs99 to call more than 120 countries.

However, Ooredoo customers who subscribe to plans or packages with free long distance minutes or special rates such as the Shahry Saver Key, Shahry International Packs and International Key are not affected.

A company spokesperson told Doha News that the change was necessary due to a rise in global interconnect costs – the price a carrier pays to transfer its customer’s call to another national telecom network.

The same reason was given when both Vodafone and Ooredoo increased the price of long-distance calls for prepaid customers in 2013.

The countries starred on this list will see their rates rise next month:

Will you be affected by the rate change? Thoughts?