From Nick White, EVP of INTUG the global telecom users group:

INTUG , the international telecoms users group, welcomes the Terminate the Rate campaign and would like to see similar initiatives elsewhere in the world. Business users of telecoms are particularly irritated by the impact of high termination rates. Trade relies on cross-border communications over fixed and mobile networks and is therefore currently hampered by the high cost for terminat ing calls on fixed and mobile networks.

National regulators have failed to successfully address this market failure and this is compounded by Mobile Network Operators denying access to competition by blocking VoIP/Skype and in some cases MVNOs. Termination rates and years of sky-high pricing on roaming has delayed the use of mobile communications for improved business processes by years.

The current situation is a ‘tax on trade’ which does not benefit business users or consumers or, by the way, the dominant mobile operators themselves. There is huge potential for innovative mobile data and text applications which would generate investment and jobs and social welfare if only the punitive level of termination rates (and roaming charges) was dramatically reduced.