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BT and O2 at Loggerheads Over Terminate the Rate
As far as O2 is concerned, getting rid of mobile termination rates would be detrimental to the prepaying customer. 3 and BT have a joint venture called Terminate the Rate, which is a plea to drop inter-operator mobile charges.
O2 is not so keen on the idea. 3 and BT have both applied to Ofcom, the telephone regulator to get rid of the charges, reasoning that without the charges, operators would be able to give out better value and less expensive call packages.
This is at odds with O2’s thinking. The company reckons that if this were to happen, then the opposite would happen and operators would lose financially, being forced to increase service prices. In addition, they may be forced to put in place “use-by dates on pre-pay credit”.
As the UK’s largest mobile operator, O2 is concerned that the proposed charge dropping would adversely affect those customers who use low-usage and prepaid mobiles and in the worst case scenario, would even make people reduce their mobile usage.
According to Mobile Choice, BT wrote to The Guardian newspaper, stating that “we have been there before” and presenting an example back in 2002. This was when Ofcom proposed to reduce inter-operator mobile charges. At the time, O2 voiced concerns that the initiative would be damaging to the pre-paid market. BT concluded that this did not happen.
Inter-operator mobile charges are what customers pay when calling someone on a different network. Calls made to mobiles on a BT landline means that BT has to pay the network called a fee.
O2 news posted by Romany on 12 August 2009
Stock Tickers: MCE:TEF
Comments
About time too
What BT and 3 are saying makes eminent sense. O2 are trying to support their inflated costs.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 12/08/2009 04:13:34
Greedy b******s.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 14/08/2009 06:30:33
Appalling attitude by O2
Get your act together and come to an agreement with BT as isn't customer loyalty more important? This is where you get your income from and that seems to me a very relevant point.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 14/08/2009 07:18:31
Copy the USA!
I have both UK and US mobile phones.
In the USA my minutes are for both made and received calls which means that anyone calling me over there is paying the same cost as if calling me on a landline. The numbers are area-based so local free call plans on landlines mean that it costs nothing to call a locally-based mobile.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 14/08/2009 07:53:55
Great British daylight robbery
Great Britain rob their citizens something blind. Well done BT for trying to bring costs down for calling mobiles. Ofcom should be helping to bring all costs down. What is wrong with this tiny little pathetic island we live on today? Full of greed!!!
Comment posted by Anonymous on 14/08/2009 09:05:18
O2 or BT
I suggest those who have O2 as their service provider, cancel their account and take it elsewhere!
Comment posted by Anonymous on 14/08/2009 09:19:39
Terminate the rate
I agree 100%.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 01:41:04
Laughable
I just got an email from BT to support their drive to petition against high mobile phone charges. I find this laughable coming from a company that over-inflated its prices for decades until the Government had to intervene to stop its monopoly on the telecoms market. I will never forget the daylight robbery BT inflicted on its customers during the monopoly years. I would be more supportive of a petition for the UK to stop paying line rental on landlines to the likes of BT.
I have absolutely no affiliation with any of these mobile companies, this is a personal view of a BT customer who has had to fork out a fortune to a company who is now trying to score brownie points when they should be looking closer to home.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 04:06:27
The hypocrisy of BT
Whilst I support the 3 & BT joint venture TTR campaign to reduce these mobile charges, what about also including the excessive BT standing charge monopoly on domestic broadband access for other telephone & internet service providers?
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 06:24:26
Why should I pay so much more for calls to mobiles?
I think it is wrong to charge landline companies so much to call mobiles. There is now enough competition to scrap those charges.
Comment posted by David Zirker on 15/08/2009 07:55:12
Mobile phones are a rip off
Maintaining a network of a zillion miles of wires & poles has to be more expensive than running a mobile network. No excuse for inflated mobile charges - they should be cheaper than landlines!
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 09:33:19
Inter-operator charges
It is quite ridiculous to have inter-operator charges.
These should be terminated now.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 09:56:20
Re:Inter-operator charges
I agree wholeheartedly re inter operator charges. Also the use of auto-reply and voicemail facilities, encouraged by service providers, must earn millions of pounds on 'no reply calls' that don't achieve anything. The cost of such calls should have been slashed many years ago. Try making such mobile telephone calls internationally and you'll be screaming in frustration at the unnecessary high cost incurred.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 18/08/2009 01:00:48
I support the BT & 3 action
This is a very sensible step in the right direction to bring costs down to a realistic level. It is all Ofcom's fault for not managing the telecoms industry properly. If I remember correctly, they obliged BT to reduce their apparent monopoly status and selling O2 was one of the results.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 10:02:54
Money talks!
I use my mobile (or rather my wife does) only rarely. A £20 top-up lasts up to 6 months. My BT bill, however, always includes charges to mobiles usually 3-4 times the cost of our landline to landline calls. Regrettably the mobile culture has created this "money tree", changes to which will be fought tooth and nail with the massive resources available to the mobile operators. Until we have politicians who put the will of the masses before that of the chosen few, little will change. After all, what success has there been in getting the substantial reductions in energy and fuel prices despite a massive reduction in crude oil costs? Now they need the higher charges for renewals and exploration, etc, etc! Money talks too loudly!!
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 10:22:07
Shame on O2
What a cheek O2 have by keeping super inflated charge costs, I guess to keep their board members, etc, on superbly high bonuses, etc. Anything that reduces call charges is good for the consumer and WILL provide more choice for them as well. We're fed up of the bonus culture - get it into your thick heads that we need lower costs. This campaign makes logical sense.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 11:13:49
Anti-competitive
I live in an area with very poor mobile reception. All my children communicate on mobiles so if I want to ring them I have to do so from the landline. Seems unfair.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 15/08/2009 12:03:27
O2
O2 are typical of many of the big businesses of modern times. Feed the paying public enough confusing statistics and they will accept any rubbish that they feed us. Get up to date O2. There has been a credit crunch and we are in the middle of a recession. The public at large is not as gullible as you would like to think. You are only interested in big profits and fat bonuses, nothing at all to do with what we as the customer wants. Get rid of the MTRs and give everyone a fair deal. The over-pricing on mobiles has gone on for too long.
Comment posted by John on 15/08/2009 12:13:37
BT is absolutely right and I agree with it all the way
BT is absolutely right and I agree with it all the way.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 16/08/2009 06:14:51
Someone has to pay
My concern is that without these termination rates, mobile operators will introduce charges to receive calls on mobiles, like happens in US for example (and I mean for US cellphone users). There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Comment posted by Paul on 16/08/2009 09:48:41
About time
O2 has no justification for not listening to BT and 3. They are making sense.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 16/08/2009 12:24:01
Unsubstantiated charges
Can O2 or any of the other networks charging these high extra cost justify them? I suspect not. It is not just in UK that calls to mobiles are ridiculously high, look at calls to Continental countries! It seems all European governments are allowing this extortion! They should all prohibit this unfair charge!
Comment posted by Anonymous on 17/08/2009 01:14:31
Terminate the Rate
Totally agree with you BT. We are being ripped off by mobile phone companies. This is just the start. We need to reduce the rip off monthly contract costs for mobile phones also. I have gone back to Pay as You Go - sick of overpriced mobile phone contracts. I now have a brilliant deal with BT with my phone, so I try to use that more instead of my mobile. Well done BT, keep up the good work. The monthly rental is a bit steep but, on the other hand, calls to BT are free and they do answer the phone when you call or they call you back. A good service.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 17/08/2009 07:21:33
Cut hidden costs
Cut them and rationalise/clarify all potential hidden charges.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 17/08/2009 09:36:54
Call charges too high
Ofcom should look into this as the mobile call charges are considerably high, especially for the low/pre-paid users who they claim to be protecting.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 17/08/2009 09:51:41
Money, money, bills, bills
Due to personal circumstances I am on pay as you go and the charges are ridiculous. Top up doesn't go anywhere.
BT has always been very expensive with its high charges, so makes me laugh they are now asking for this. Probably looks good for their image, I personally think.
I am renting so don't have a landline as I would have to pay for a connection fee and then have line rental and VAT, blah, blah... so only have a mobile but I feel bad for people who then have to ring me on that.
Total rip off. Britain gets us on everything, get penalised on everything for us working people is what makes the world go round.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 17/08/2009 10:09:33
Landline phone charges are too expensive anyway
Of course inter-operator charges should be scrapped completely. I also think line rental charges are a rip off, so my only phone is a mobile with free outgoing landline calls for a fixed fee. It is a shame that those calling me from landlines pay a premium.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 17/08/2009 11:50:38
Hands up anybody who thinks BT are doing this for the benefit of consumers?
If you've still got your hand up, go and ask BT for landline telephone service, no monthly charge, 0.3p per minute landline calls. Which means approx 66 hours of calls per month before you break even with BT's lowest standing charge, which doesn't include any free calls since they all have "connection fees" of over 5p.
That is what BT says their MTR is to other networks, so should be more than sufficient for calls to other landlines, the vast majority of which are run by BT.
Then wait for them to stop laughing and then fob you off with an excuse about "profitability" and "investment costs".
If that doesn't persuade you consider this from BT on the TTR website:
"Without MTRs it would be possible to offer fixed-price bundles offering unlimited calls, which would include calls to mobile phones on all UK mobile networks."
Comment posted by Anonymous on 18/08/2009 02:46:36
Re:Hands up anybody who thinks BT are doing this for the benefit of consumers?
Call packages are the phone industry's (including mobile operators) dirty little secret. They are for most people, most of the time, bad value for money, because they never use up, from month-to-month, let alone from year to year, the equivalent minutes of the pay-per-minute system.
Don't believe me? If you got a package go and check what your cost would be under a per-minute basis.
Don't fall for the spin that you get peace of mind from a fixed charge, the times you use the phone more will be balanced by the times you use it less.
If on the other hand you love talking on the phone all day and night, by all means stick it to BT. You'll be one of the few that isn't getting it stuck to by BT on call packages.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 18/08/2009 10:08:28
Re:Hands up anybody who thinks BT are doing this for the benefit of consumers?
UK mobile phone charges are very low. BT is an outrage. Did you know, if you don't use your phone much (e.g. if it's just because you HAVE to have the line to get internet) then the government forces BT to give you a low user rate (about 7 pounds per month). BT don't tell you this outright...
My Pay As You Go mobile from O2 is incredibly good value.
I haven't made an inter-network call for months. Wake up and learn how to use the systems that are already there.
Good luck. :)
Comment posted by Anonymous on 18/08/2009 11:15:45
Stop mobile phone charges
Comment posted by Anonymous on 18/08/2009 09:22:38
0845 and 0870 calls
How much does BT charge mobile companies in termination fees for connecting to its 0845 and 0870 numbers?
A lot more than BT charges its retail landline customers, and a lot more than the mobile companies charge BT to connect to a mobile.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 17/12/2010 17:09:20
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