The big call to arms

Jun 30 2009 by jez Davison, Evening Gazette

THE Federation of Small Businesses has teamed up with telecoms giants BT and 3 to wage a war on “unfair” mobile phone charges.

The trio have urged Tees Valley firms to join the Terminate the Rate coalition, a national group which is lobbying regulator Ofcom to lower Mobile Termination Rates (MTR).

MTRs are a wholesale connection charge that operators have to pay to transmit a phone call towards a competitor’s network.

This results in the caller putting around 5p per minute into the pocket of the receiving phone operator, according to the FSB - costing UK businesses and consumers an estimated £750m per year.

The campaign has attracted the support of international telecoms groups such as INTUG, which claims cross-border trade is being hampered by soaring call costs.

International trade is a key driver of the North-east economy, with the region exporting £11.2bn worth of goods last year.

The European Commission has called for further price curbs after setting limits in 2007 on the amount mobile phone companies can charge their customers.

But EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding dropped a bombshell recently by hinting that users may have to pay charges for accepting calls as well as making them, even when not roaming in other countries.

GRAEME Moore, director of Darlington-based JLM Global Foods, said call charges could be cheaper, given that “they’re a necessity of life”.

He said: “Charges for data bundles are becoming very expensive. A lot of people are using the internet now instead.”

Mark Blayney, the business turnaround specialist who runs Turnaround Help and Creative Finance in Darlington, says a broker could help businesses save money on their telephone bills.

His consultancy-based call charges come to around £70-80 per month.

“Calls are getting to be more important because businesses are getting more reliant on mobile communications,” he says.

Peter Troy, of PR firm Peter Troy The Publicist, saves “hundreds of pounds a month” by using Skype to make calls.

He wants Ofcom to clamp down on “restrictive” redemption charges imposed on customers who want to cancel their mobile phone contracts.

“The communications industry seems to be capitalising on profiteering,” he says.

Mark Easby of Stokesley-based Better Brand Agency, says the proliferation of networking platforms is making it harder for mobile phone operators to compete. Calls account for only 10% of his mobile phone usage.

“I’ll jump online and send a message via Facebook or Twitter rather than by text. It saves me 10p!”