UK OpCos refuse to charge to take calls

I am sure you might be wondering (maybe in fact you know) who this woman is? Well, this is European Commissioner Viviane Reding, who recently commented (during an interview with the FT) that she would not oppose MNOs that wanted to charge users to terminate calls – potentially paving the way for UK OpCos at least to start ratcheting in a set of extra charges.

Luckily for us, the UK OpCos have stated they won’t be doing any such thing as introducing the “receving party pays”.

Interestingly, ZDNet (who covered the story) noted:

A spokesperson for Reding’s office told ZDNet.co.uk that the very suggestion of RPP in Europe was a “lobbying statement” designed to make the Commission’s recommendations for lower termination rates seem unattractive. “We believe that the threat by some to introduce ‘receiving party pays’ is an empty threat, as a company that would introduce this in Europe would kick themselves out of the market,” the spokesperson said.

Right, so that’s much clearer now from the Commissioner’s spokesperson – it was a lobbying statement, designed to provoke a response?! At any rate, people are used to receiving calls for free – changing that mindset would be nigh-on impossible, I think.

[Via: ZDNet.co.uk]