BT, 3, moneysupermarket.com, the Federation of Small Businesses, Carers UK, the GMB, (Britain’s General Trade Union) and the National Union of Students who are working together to help influence the decision Ofcom makes on reducing the charge of Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs).

MTRs are charged when you call somebody on a different mobile network, or call a mobile from your landline. Their network will charge yours a fee for receiving (or ‘carrying’) the call. This is a Mobile Termination Rate. The current charge is around 4.7p or more for every minute you’re connected – charges we think are excessive and distort competition. So we want the industry regulator, Ofcom, to lower the rate to reflect the actual costs.

We’re doing this because we want the future to be fairer. Inflated MTRs mean everybody pays too much for their phone bills and prevents innovative offers such as flat-rate unlimited calling plans. We think that all consumers deserve better value from the mobile phone market. And it won’t just be the individual consumer that benefit, we want public bodies like the NHS and local councils to make calls to mobiles, (which can be typically 10 times higher than calls to fixed lines), as well as landlines, without running up huge additional costs.

There is a petition that will be presented to Ofcom and other key organisations involved in the decision on resetting the level of MTRs from April 2011 onwards. Over the next three months we’ll be making UK consumers aware of this issue and aim to get as many people as possible to sign our petition. You can sign the petition here and add your voice to those already saying: “I don’t want to pay unfair Mobile Termination Rates.”

The contributors to this blog, aiming to keep you in the loop on latest developments, include:

Guy Middleton: Head of Corporate Communications at 3

guy@terminatetherateblog.org

Guy joined 3 in August 2007 from industry title Mobile magazine where he was Managing Editor. Guy joined Mobile in 2001 as News Editor, after working for a range of UK, European and US technology, business titles.

Hugh Davies: Director of Corporate Affairs

hugh@terminatetherateblog.org

Hugh Davies is Director of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for 3 UK’s contact with a range of stakeholders including the media and analyst community, politicians, industry organisations, the 3 community and specialist customer and user groups.

He joined 3 in July 2006. Before working for 3 Hugh was Head of PR at Microsoft in the UK. He also has experience working for some of the largest PR agencies in the world.

Sarah Pope: Head of Consumer PR

sarah@terminatetherateblog.org

Sarah Pope is Head of Consumer PR and is responsible for 3 UK’s contact with a range of media from personal finance and consumer affairs to travel and lifestyle publications.

She joined 3 in July 2007. Before working for 3 Sarah was PR Manager at Ford in the UK. She has also worked for internet service provider Tiscali, as well as other leading internet brands.

Phyllisia Adjei: Consumer PR Manager

As PR Manager for 3, Phyllisia Adjei is responsible for devising and managing key consumer PR campaigns for the mobile phone operator.

Phyllisia joined 3 in Jan 2009 from Motorola where she was UK PR Manager for Mobile Devices, managing the UK communications strategy for the handset manufacturer.

Michelle Chapman: Community Executive at 1000heads

As Community Executive at 1000heads, Michelle is responsible for building and growing the community of people talking about the Terminate the Rate campaign both online and off.

She joined 1000heads in January 2009 after moving back to the UK from teaching English in the Czech Republic and Mexico.

Media enquiries: enquiries@terminatetherateblog.org

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