Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Friday, August 16, 2013

GSMA not cowed after EC compares mobile calls with milk

Mark Bridge writes:

In this week’s podcast we talked about a recent European study into call costs that had been highlighted by European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes. You can hear the report after around 24 minutes into the programme.

Ms Kroes pointed out that making a national mobile phone call in Europe cost 774% more in the Netherlands than in Lithuania.

We agreed the headline was shocking - but also said there were potentially many other tariff factors that weren’t being compared.

Tom Phillips, Chief Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer at the GSMA, has offered his own opinion.

He said “While I fully support Commissioner Kroes’ desire to create an effective single European market for mobile services, this does not imply a single price. In a press release issued on 6 August, the Commissioner compares the different prices of domestic mobile phone calls in EU countries to the price of a litre of milk - a  point that reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of market conditions. No serious comparison can be made between the mobile and dairy industries. Dairy producers are not rolling out “next-generation” milk infrastructure that is central to European economic competitiveness, nor are they meeting consumer demands by offering people “all you can drink” contracts.”

“The research cited by the Commissioner mistakenly claims that there is ‘one standard minute’ of mobile phone service - there isn’t. Some mobile phone calls will be pre-paid, some will have subsidised handsets, some will buy bundles of minutes, some will be heavily discounted for volume business users, and so on. Why don’t all insurance policies cost the same across the EU?  The answer, like for mobile services, is because different people want different things.”

“Europe was the early leader in mobile but now lags far behind the United States in the deployment of next-generation mobile technologies and the advanced services made possible through mobile. Enlightened policy reforms could certainly help bring improvement. To create a successful single European market, I encourage the Commissioner to focus on coordinating the release of spectrum made available through the digital dividend, rather than embarking on an unnecessary fourth wave of roaming regulation.”

Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Categories: Networks and operators, OpinionNumber of views: 14263

Tags: gsma voice opinion europe tariff

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

Ofcom straightens out contracts, LG makes a curved phone and a mobile security company is accused of crooked dealings

Podcast - 30th October 2013

We start this week's podcast with Ofcom's announcement that it's clarifying the rules for fixed-term mobile phone contracts.

There's also a new curved smartphone from LG, accusations about a mobile security company, information about mobile phone thefts, a report into the UK's communications infrastructure and some quarterly results figures.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

The world of mobile payments

Podcast - 28th October 2013

M-commerce and mobile payments are terms that can mean several different things.

In this special podcast we learn more about the subject by talking to Tim Green, editor-in-chief of Mobile Money Revolution.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

What is HTML5 and what does it mean for mobile?

Podcast - 25th October 2013

HTML5 is often described as the shape of things to come; sometimes as the future of the web and sometimes as the nemesis of native mobile applications.

But exactly what is 'HTML 5' - and what does it mean to the mobile industry?

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

New tablets coming to the UK from Nokia, Apple, Amazon and Argos

Podcast - 23rd October 2013

There's plenty of product news in this week's podcast, with a new Apple iPad and new tablets from Nokia and Argos as well.

We also talk about HMV's battle with the Apple App Store, new 4G tariffs from Tesco Mobile, Samsung's patent proposals and a complaint about coverage maps.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Mobile app promotion - top tips and salient stats

Podcast - 18th October 2013

If you've created a mobile application, you'll want people to download it, use it and tell their friends. But how can you ensure that as many people as possible know about your app?

Today's podcast is designed to help with some of the answers. It was recorded in London at the very first App Promotion Summit earlier this year.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First1112131416181920Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«November 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
28293031123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526272829301
2345678

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement