subject: Mobile termination rates to be significantly reduced by 2015 [print this page] Mobile termination rates to be significantly reduced by 2015
Mobile termination rates (MTR's) are fees we are charged when making a call from a mobile to another mobile on a different network, or from a landline to a mobile phone. The operator of the person making the call is charged by the recipient's network for carrying the call. These charges are then passed onto the consumer.
These charges contribute to approximately 4.7p per minute of each call, and costs landline customers around 750 million annually. The campaign for the reduction of these rates is being led by a group named Terminate the Rate, who are urging Ofcom to reduce the mobile termination rates across the board. Currently, they have 154079 signatures on their online petition, and are backed by major companies such as BT, 3, the FSB, and moneysupermarket.com.
Ofcom have proposed a gradual reduction in mobile termination rates, reaching 0.5p per minute by 2015. This would stagger the supposed 1 billion loss which would be suffered by the mobile phone industry, but would appeal to mobile phone users everywhere with the drastic reductions which would be made.
Not everyone is happy about the proposed price slashing however, with Vodafone publicly criticising the campaign. They believe that the reduction in MTR's would lead to a rise in call prices and a drop in mobile phone usage. This argument was countered by those at Terminate the Rate however, who insist that a similar situation arose in 2002 when prices were reduced. A that time, prices went down and usage went up, a positive sign for the current reduction proposals.
So, with cheaper mobile calls within the UK a real possibility, all that is left is the matter of international call rates. In fact, T-Mobile have recently reduced the price of making international phone calls for their contract customers. Perhaps it won't be long before consumers can enjoy reduced national call rates as well as cheap international calls.
