Arun reckons flate rate pricing is coming in a few years

Link: Vodafone Chief Predicts Flat Rate Pricing at MobHappy

Rather an odd story in Friday’s London Evening Standard. Hard on the heels of 3’s announcement on pricing for its X-Series, Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodafone ‘predicts” that flat rate monthly pricing would be the norm ‘within a matter of years”.

To someone who doesn’t work for an operator, this is a little puzzling. I mean, if it’s truly inevitable, as Mr Sarin suggests, why not just do it? What purpose is there to delaying the inevitable and particularly when any analyst and pundit you speak to agrees that it’s holding back the usage of the mobile web.

I like Russell’s perspective. Heh.

Come on Arun, why isn’t it the ‘norm’ today?

I reckon I know why. The reason we don’t have flat rate pricing today is that this nation is quite content paying, for example, 35p or 40p a minute to call mobiles on other networks.

If I was running a network operator, I’d be absolutely wetting myself with delight when I woke up every morning. My policy would be, ‘as long as they’ll pay it, charge it.’

Why bother swapping to flat rate pricing when you’re customers are stupid enough to just put up with it?

Sure, Arun and his colleagues at other operators will eventually need to move to flat rate, obviously. But our major cities don’t yet have blanket wifi coverage. Indeed, our lumbering giant, British Telecom is still charging people PER MINUTE to use it’s BT Openworld service. So it’s going to be a lonnnnnnnnnnng time, a good few years, before the majority of

We’re so indoctrinated into the expectation of paying-per-minute that the mums, dads and associated oldies — even the young’uns actually — don’t think twice about signing up to a service plan that includes 40p a minute charges to call other mobiles. I’ve been in many a Carphone Warehouse or a Vodafone store, witnessing folk signing up and looking over price plans and NOT ONCE has anyone ever said, ‘hold on a minute, 40p/min to talk to my mate on T-Mobile? You’re having a laugh! Change that, mate!’

Until the mobile users in this country (and beyond) indicate they’ve actually got a real problem with the ridiculous pricing structures of mobile telephony, then why bother changing?

At some point, one of the operators will break ranks… but, as Arun points out, it won’t be a for a wee while yet. They’re all making too much cash. Don’t rock the boat…