Ofcom act on mobile termination rates and number porting

Commenting on Ofcom's announcement on mobile termination rates, Mike Wilson, mobiles manager at moneysupermarket.com, said: "It's been clear for some time that termination rates don't reflect the real costs of calling a landline or another mobile network.  The vast majority of customers are unaware they even pay mobile termination rates, despite the fact they make up a significant cost of a call. We feel this penalises customers unfairly - that's why we backed the campaign from the start - so it is great to see that Ofcom agrees that this hidden charge has to pretty much go.

"Ofcom has opted to phase in the reduction, which should appease operators.  The mobile phone market is a competitive one so we do expect to see the benefits of the lower costs feed through to customers in the form of cheaper calls or more minutes of voice calls a month in your tariff."

Commenting on Ofcom's consultation on mobile number porting, Mike Wilson, mobiles manager at moneysupermarket.com, said: "Number porting is essential for people to be able to swap mobile providers and get a better deal. Setting a one day time frame for mobile operators to transfer your existing phone number and setting a two hour maximum to give a PAC code - which enables the customer to swap - is good news for mobile users and gives people greater power.

"However, the main concern remains - responsibility will still lie with the customer to access the PAC code, and not the new provider. In many cases, customers are not being offered the best deals until they have threatened to leave their existing operator, but this decision mostly eliminates the time frame for operators to try and retain a customer and should help to ensure providers offer the best deals up front."