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Operators to charge for incoming calls?

This doesn’t sound good. According to a number of reports, EC Commissioner Viviane Reding is planning to pare back mobile termination rates from 7p to around 1p. Funnily enough, mobile operators aren’t best pleased and have apparently told Reding that if she goes ahead with the cuts, they might be forced to charge customers to receive incoming calls.

Reding’s spokesman told the Telegraph: “Companies could introduce tariffs that made you pay to receive calls, but most consumers will not tolerate this. They will go elsewhere. This is an empty threat from the mobile phone companies.”

Too right. While operators in other countries might charge incoming call costs as the norm, trying to introduce a similar model in the UK years after the mobile market has matured would be something akin to operator suicide. Thankfully, it sounds like a lot of sabre rattling rather than a serious threat.

8 COMMENTS

  1. It's a thoroughly desperate measure isn't it? Declining voice revenues…
    I can just imagine some prat-at-the-back standing up at the revenue ideas
    meeting and suggesting this… deary me.

  2. (Please lord!) I honestly can't see it happening in the UK market. I know all the operators are desperate to find new revenue streams, but this would be so stupid… imagine if BT or Virgin wanted to do the same with fixed line voice and/or data!

  3. EC Commissioner Viviane Reding really needs to leave this and other subjects on our UK Networks alone. Because she could really mess up the UK Mobile market

  4. what a canadian customer say about this, er, actually:
    – paying for incoming calls is the norm and as this is not enough, people will be paying for incoming text messages from now on,
    – I pay for a voicemail service (~10$CAD=~5

  5. what a canadian customer say about this, er, actually:
    – paying for incoming calls is the norm and as this is not enough, people will be paying for incoming text messages from now on,
    – I pay for a voicemail service (~10$CAD=~5£)monthly and when I listen to my messages, those minutes are deducted from my monthly allowance,
    – and if I am not happy with that, I have the choice to stop using my mobile phone…as the big 3 players adopted the same policy. What a dynamic and competitive market? (see Krystal's post: http://www.smstextnews.com/2008/08/its_ok_reall…).

    TOO SAD Mrs Viviane Reding cannot act on the canadian market or accept the hole CRTC team members (local regulator) for a long internship in her office. Anyone to join me and donate for their accomodation in Brussels?

  6. what a canadian customer say about this, er, actually:
    – paying for incoming calls is the norm and as this is not enough, people will be paying for incoming text messages from now on,
    – I pay for a voicemail service (~10$CAD=~5£)monthly and when I listen to my messages, those minutes are deducted from my monthly allowance,
    – and if I am not happy with that, I have the choice to stop using my mobile phone…as the big 3 players adopted the same policy. What a dynamic and competitive market? (see Krystal's post: http://www.smstextnews.com/2008/08/its_ok_reall…).

    TOO SAD Mrs Viviane Reding cannot act on the canadian market or accept the hole CRTC team members (local regulator) for a long internship in her office. Anyone to join me and donate for their accomodation in Brussels?

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