Ofcom’s opportunity to bring an end to 20 years of excessive charges to call mobile phones is drawing near. At the end of March Ofcom is expected to announce its preferred option for the future regulation of mobile termination rates (MTRs) - these are the charges for calling a mobile from another mobile or a fixed line. Ofcom is considering this decision right now. We hope that Ofcom will listen to the Terminate the Rate Campaign as well as the European Commission – both of which are calling for decisive action to reduce termination rates to their true cost and to do so quickly.

We know Ofcom will be under pressure from the big mobile operators, which don’t want lower rates. But we hope that the voices of the campaign, from 65 organisations that range from charities through to financial advisers and businesses will be heard, alongside the 130,000 plus signatories, 1,500 small businesses and 262 MPs as the regulator considers how to resolve the problem of mobile termination rates.

Ofcom has the duty to further the interests of consumers and competition written into its articles of incorporation. It also has the comfort of support from the EC which will reinforce a consumer-friendly move to charging no more than what it actually costs to terminate a call.

It is nearly 20 years since mobile termination rates were first regulated, since then they have very slowly been reduced. In regulatory terms the period over which prices come down is know as a ‘glide path’. A 20-year glide path is more than long enough and we are calling on Ofcom to bring MTRs down to their true cost as soon as possible – 1st April 2011.