A telecommunications tariff is an open contract between a telecommunications service provider and the public, filed with a regulating body such as state and municipal Public Utilities Commissions and federal entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
[1] Such tariffs outline the terms and conditions of providing telecommunications service to the public including rates, fees, and charges.
Such an operator must constantly balance the need to provide cheaper rates, especially if there is strong competition, with the cost of maintaining the service at an optimum quality that is acceptable to the customer.
In these times, the services provided were less complex, and customers were able to simply read the tariffs to understand how much they would be charged for each type of call.
The higher the price, the more this effect is noticeable, for both business and residential customers on international or local calls.
The conclusion of the research was that by varying prices over time, a telecommunications service provider can reduce the level of the traffic intensity at peak periods, resulting in lower equipment costs because of the reduced need to provision to meet peak demand, which in turn leads to increases in long-term revenue and profitability.