Ofcom petitioned to cut mobile rates

REGULATOR OFCOM has received a petition from the 'Terminate the Rate' campaign, launched by BT and 3.

The campaign seeks to lower unfair mobile termination rates to reflect what they actually cost to give consumers a fair deal. Termination rates are charges from the mobile operators to connect calls to mobiles and cost UK phone users around 5p per minute when calling from a landline or a different mobile network.

Since the campaign launched in May this year, 114,259 people have signed the online petition calling for Ofcom to reduce mobile termination rates from about 5p a minute to around a penny or less.

258 MPs also have signed an Early Day Motion supporting the campaign, making it one of the most widely supported on the parliamentary books.

However, the campaign has not been universally backed. O2 is reported on the Mobile News Direct blog as being 'at loggerheads' with BT over the campaign. O2 reckons that if the rates were terminated then operators would be forced to put their prices up to cover the cost, which wouldn't work out so well for the customer after all.

The launch of the 'Terminate the Rate' campaign happens to coincide with Ofcom starting a public consultation on its policy for termination rates after the current regulations expire in 2011. µ