Call charges from mobiles won't vary... hoorah!

THE PHRASE 'call charges from mobiles may vary' should become a thing of the past after October 1^st. That's because O2 has finally announced that it will be supporting Voice Short Codes (VSCs).

It means that aggregators like MX Telecom can now offer a single voice short code that works across all UK networks for the first time. The company is taking orders immediately.

The move was also welcomed by Jeremy Flynn, CEO with mobile video specialist, D2see. "It should take the unknown factor out of TV voting," he said.

However, Flynn revealed that the TV companies will earn significantly less from a voice call that is, for example, charged at 35 pence per minute to the consumer than they would if that same call is made over a fixed line 090 number.

"It's going to be interesting to see if they [the TV companies] value revenue share more than they do consumer transparency," Flynn observed.

O2's move means that a single five digit short code can now be configured and branded for SMS, MMS, Voice and, ultimately, video.

Flynn told the INQ that he's frustrated that O2 still isn't offering support for video short codes. He claimed that to do so really isn't much more difficult than offering voice short codes.

He estimated that O2 has lagged something like four years behind the other mobile networks in offering voice short codes. "It's showing that they [O2] really don't treat the direct consumer model very seriously."

Alex Moir from MX Telecom, commented, "Premium rate call channels for voting and competitions should significantly benefit from this improved pricing clarity and the simplicity of using short codes for voice."

Jeremy Flynn also predicted that celebrity voice chat services where fans can speak directly to their idols on a one-to-many basis should mushroom. Particularly for B-list celebs.

As the INQ previously reported, both MX Telecom and D2see were complaining about O2's lack of support for voice short codes as long ago as July 2007. µ

See also
O2's failure to launch voice and video shortcodes holds up entire industry