Is the cost of overseas communication set to fall?
It looks as though the fight between the main mobile phone operators in the UK and EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding is set to go to the wire with no party prepared to give any ground as the stand off continues. After suggesting that she had already given the mobile operators one year to get their house in order regarding overseas communication she has now threatened to introduce price caps on overseas calls, texts and data downloads. But the mobile network operators are not happy!
Amid cries of political meddling and macro-management the mobile network companies are complaining bitterly that the plans to introduce a price cap will see some operators going out of business, less money for research and development and ultimately fewer attractive phone offers for customers.
While the EU argues that the real cost of a text from overseas is just 1p against charges which are as high as 21p a text, the operators claim that this is an income stream which is ultimately ploughed back into the business for the good of the sector and consumers.
Other issues which have arisen include the fact that consumers are charged per minute for overseas calls with a suggestion that they should revert to billing per 30 second. Data download is also another bone of contention with reports that one customer who downloaded a TV program while overseas was charged a massive forty thousand Euros. Talks are still ongoing but we are fast approaching crunch time.
Share this..
Related stories
Recycling your unwanted Christmas gifts
As we covered in one of our recent articles, each and every person in the UK is likely to have received a gift(s) which was either unwanted or will remain unused for many years to come. As a consequence, sites such as eBay have seen a massive increase in gifts listed for sale at knockdown prices with many people desperate to get their hands on cold hard cash. This is one of the more simple ways...
Read MoreIs It Time To Tighten Your Belt?
As the UK economy continues to slow and more job loses seem to be announced each day, we seem to be approaching the time when the UK population will need to save as much money as they can. Too many in the UK are continuing to live the lifestyle they had last year, using their savings to mask what has become an untenable situation. So what can they do to cut back on spending?
If th...
BT given go-ahead to increase charge to rivals
After months and months of discussions, OFCOM has today set out a new system which will see British Telecom allowed to increase its charge to competitors using its network by up to 11%. Not only is this a serious development for BT but it will also allow the industry, and BT in particular, to invest in the long-awaited national broadband fibre-optic network. This was the main reason for BT's insis...
Read MoreSterling falls to 2 month low against the dollar
The UK currency is again under pressure after revised gross domestic product figures fell short of economist's expectations within 0.2% contraction in the UK economy in the third quarter against expectations of a 0.1% reduction. While the consensus opinion is that the UK will move out of recession in the final quarter of 2009 there is concern at the sluggish performance of the economy over the las...
Read MoreIs British Airways on the brink?
While the last few weeks have seen British Airways introduce significant cost savings, work without pay and a fundraising, there are still concerns that the group is in trouble. In a rather bizarre turnaround in the historic fight with the unions, many believe it is only the power of the union leaders that is actually stopping the vast majority of British Airways 40,000 employees from going on str...
Read More