3 and BT campaigning for lower mobile call costs
How does getting more minutes and texts for your money sound? 3 and BT have joined forces in an attempt to scrap mobile termination rates. Their new campaign "Terminate the Rate", aims to scrap the small charge that occurs when you call a friend who is on another network from your mobile. The cost of transferring the call from one network to another is passed on from the network receiving the call, and ultimately to you the customer.
3 are is arguing that the abolition of the termination rates could see mobile networks offering more minutes, texts and internet access for less. "We get subsidised by BT, when someone calls a 3 mobile from a BT landline, but we want the subsidy to go," said 3 CEO Kevin Russell. "Then we can offer lower prices... If termination rates went down, we could see an opportunity to bring calling charges down to one pence per minute."
This might go some way to explaining why 3 has been busy promoting the use of Skype on all of their handsets. A Skype call made using a 3 phone is now completely free to other 3 mobile Skype users and normal Skype users. You still have to pay to call other mobile phones but it's a cheap alternative if all your friends use Skype.
3 and BT are proposing that a £35 tariff could provide limitless calls and texts to any network, if the termination fees were scrapped. According to a piece in the Guardian, similar packages are already available in the US and Germany.
Termination fees are due for a review in 2011 by the telecoms regulator Ofcom. A 3 spokesman said: "Right now the consumer is really losing out. These rates are not justified." You can sign up for the "Terminate the Rate" campaign here at terminatetherate.org.
