Flat Rate Tariffs Jumping the Pond?
By Dianne See Morrison - Thu 20 Mar 2008 05:21 AM PST
The flat-rate tariff wars kicked off by Verizon (NYSE: VZ) in the US, could be crossing the pond. The UK’s Competition Commission has been asked to get rid of mobile termination rates in Britain—the charges that operators bill each other to connect calls between other networks. According to the Guardian, scrapping these charges would allow operators to have a better grip on their own bills, and hence be able to offer flat-rate packages to consumers. The UK’s smallest network, 3, has been lobbying for the end of mobile termination rates the hardest, as it stands to benefit the most should they be axed. Three pays £50 million ($100 million) more in termination charges than they collect from the other operators. It has pointed out that in the US and Hong Kong, where early termination rates do not exist, consumers have enjoyed lower service prices, and bigger bundles of call time, while usage was up three-fold.
Posted in: Companies, Operators, 3, Countries, Europe, UK, Legal, Regulatory
