Miscellaneous -
Mobile Phone Charges
The
cost of mobile phone calls was to be slashed by at
least 30% after a high court ruling. The price
cuts are likely to save consumers up to £700m
over three years, according to telecommunications
watchdog Oftel. A one-minute peak-rate call from
a fixed-line phone to a Vodafone handset will
fall by 6.5p, to 13.5p. The reductions will apply
to all phone calls from one mobile network to
another and from landlines to mobile handsets.
Three of the four mobile phone networks -
Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange - have been
fighting the imposition of price cuts since
January, when the competition commission finished
a long-running investigation into call charges
and ordered a series of changes.
Mr Justice Moses threw out the companies' attempt
to force a judicial review of the commission's
ruling, saying the regulator's demands for lower
prices were "fair, reasoned and not
irrational". The phone companies estimate
the move will cost them between £1.5bn and
£2bn, and warned that the costs would be
recouped by lower subsidies on handsets - in
effect pushing up the price of a new phone. A
spokesman for T-Mobile said, "People should
be wary of seeing this as a good thing. The
competition commission did not suggest mobile
phone operators weren't entitled to recoup their
investment, just not in this way. One result will
be that subsidies will disappear and the cost of
buying a new handset will go up
considerably."
The case centred on so-called "termination
charges", which are triggered when a call
lands on a mobile network. The competition
commission is forcing 50% cuts in the charges
mobile phone companies levy on calls into their
networks, spread over three years. Jonathan
Swift, a lawyer for the mobile companies, had
branded the price cuts a straitjacket and claimed
the competition commission had acted outside its
powers under UK and European law. Mr Justice
Moses admitted the case was "a very unusual
situation", but ruled the competition
commission had dealt with the issue fairly. Allan
Williams, a senior policy adviser at the
Consumers' Association, said, "The whole
point of this case was that mobile phone firms
were ripping consumers off with charges that they
could not see. Perhaps the companies will get the
message that they cannot continue to rip off
consumers and must charge a fair price for calls
to their networks."
He warned the mobile companies that if they tried
to "jack up the cost of handsets or fiddle
with their text charges" in a confusing way,
the CA would immediately demand further action
from Oftel. One leading telecoms analyst said
handset prices were already rising, and warned
that the progress of new 3G technology, which
requires mobile customers to buy new handsets,
could be held back. David Edmonds, the director
general of Oftel, had originally sent the issue
of termination charges to the competition
commission. He said he was "delighted"
by the judgment.
He said, "A major investigation by Oftel
found that mobile phone operators have been
significantly overcharging consumers for
connecting calls to their networks. The
competition commission supported my judgment. I
am delighted that Oftel's arguments have been
vindicated and that our processes and those of
the competition commission have been shown to be
fair and proper." Mr Edmonds said the
measures which must now be implemented by mobile
companies would bring benefits to consumers.
"I hope that the three companies, who have
lost every challenge to Oftel's analysis and
decisions, will now behave in the interests of
all those UK consumers who call mobile
phones," he said.
The high court gave the companies the right to
appeal against the decision, although it seems
unlikely that they will press on with their legal
battle to keep prices high. The UK's fourth
operator, O2, had not joined its rivals to fight
the ruling. The case will have implications
across Europe, as the 15 members of the EU are
due to adopt common telecoms legislation by July
25. An Orange spokesman said the Oftel move was
"heavy-handed" and added that the firm
was looking forward to working with European
regulators, which might provide a "less
interventionist regime."
In true 'Rip-off Britain' style, Vodafone, Orange
and T-mobile threatened to push up the cost of
out-going calls and text messages as well as
increasing the price of handsets. The phone
giants said they intended to make up any losses
by inflating other charges.
What
the big four charge for overseas calls
Orange
Orange's charges are the easiest to understand
and have the fewest variations. If you take your
phone to Spain, it will cost 60p to make a call
and 30p to receive one. From Ireland, costs are
40p to send and 20p to receive. In the US, it
costs £1.10 to call and 55p to receive, while in
Australia the charges are 70p and 35p,
respectively. From India, calls cost £1.30 to
make and 80p to receive. Orange pre-pay phones
are simple to understand as you can use them only
in Europe (though not in every country; Hungary
is not included, for example) and there is a flat
rate across the region: £1.20 to make calls and
60p to receive.
O2
Call charges with O2 depend on whether or not you
are calling within or outside the country you are
in at the time, and also whether you have an
international traveller service (ITS) discount.
If you phone from Ireland, it will cost 35p-50p,
no matter where you call, and to receive calls
costs 18p-94p. Similarly in Spain, it costs
58p-85p to make any call and 28p-94p to receive
one. In the US, however, it costs between £1.03
and £1.37 to call the UK but only around half
that to call another US location, while receiving
calls costs 45p-£1.20. Calls from Australia cost
60p-85p to the UK and 50p-£1.30 to receive. In
India, it costs £1.20-£1.70 to call the UK and
99p-£1.65 to receive a call. Pay as you go
phones are - again - more straightforward. Calls
to the UK from any country cost 99p to landlines
and other O2 mobiles or £1.49 to other mobiles.
Receiving calls also costs £1.49. If you are on
the U, EasyLife, Business Pay & Go or Pay
& Go Free Best Friend tariff, calls costs
£1.50 to make or receive in the EU, and £3.99
everywhere else.
T-Mobile
It costs 75p to make a call and 70p to receive
one in Spain and Australia, 50p to make or
receive a call in Ireland, 90p to make and 70p to
receive a call in the US, and £1.40 and £1.30,
respectively, to make and receive calls in India.
T-Mobile's international option has no effect on
the cost of calling from abroad, though it does
reduce the cost of calling abroad from the UK. It
also cuts the cost of receiving a call while
abroad to 20p in Spain, 15p in Ireland, 60p in
the US, 30p in Australia and £1 in India.
Pre-payment charges break down more easily: calls
made and received cost £1 in Spain, 70p in
Ireland, £1 in Australia and £1.80 in India. In
the US, calls cost £1.20 to make and 90p to
receive.
Vodafone
Take your Vodafone to Spain and it will cost
75p-99p to make or receive a call, depending on
which local network you use, while in Ireland
costs range from 47p-to 60p for making calls and
75p-99p to receive them. In the US, calls will
set you back 82p to make and £1.45 to receive,
while in Australia charges are 76p-90p and
£1.14, respectively. In India it costs
£1.16-£1.27 to make a call and £2.24 to
receive one. Using Vodafone's ICS option will
reduce the cost of receiving calls to 30p in
Spain, 68p in the US, 39p in Australia and £1.52
in India. There does not appear to be any
discount in Ireland. If you have a pre-payment
phone, it costs 75p to make or receive a call in
Ireland and Spain. Neither Vodafone's website nor
its press office could provide pre-payment rates
for the US, Australia or India, so presumably you
can't pre-pay from anywhere outside Europe.
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