Shrygue
June 17th, 2008, 19:18
via Gizmodo (http://uk.gizmodo.com/2008/06/17/uk_phone_users_face_charge_for.html)
I realise that it sounds abhorrent but UK phone users could soon be facing the prospect of being charged for receiving calls, never mind making them.
Telecom industry insiders claim that mobile telecoms companies may do just that as a backlash against the European Union's plans to force them to reduce their charges for receiving calls from rivals networks. Also, in a couple of weeks, EU Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding, who has already forced telcos to cap roaming charges, plans to tackle them on roaming data and text charges.
You might think it's a bizarre concept but being charged to receive calls is already the norm for phone users in the US and some Asian countries.
In the US, all those free minutes you get are eaten up not just by the calls you make but by those you receive too.
While it's somewhat unnerving to think that the mobile operators might try and pull this stunt, it's downright terrifying when you hear that Reding says she'll probably let them. Speaking to the FT, about them charging folk to receive calls, she said:
'Why not? The whole market is developing, so we should not stay on the rules that have been in place 10 years . . . I think the business models are not for the European commissioner to decide. Business models are for the operators to decide."
Oh dear. Thoughts anyone?
I realise that it sounds abhorrent but UK phone users could soon be facing the prospect of being charged for receiving calls, never mind making them.
Telecom industry insiders claim that mobile telecoms companies may do just that as a backlash against the European Union's plans to force them to reduce their charges for receiving calls from rivals networks. Also, in a couple of weeks, EU Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding, who has already forced telcos to cap roaming charges, plans to tackle them on roaming data and text charges.
You might think it's a bizarre concept but being charged to receive calls is already the norm for phone users in the US and some Asian countries.
In the US, all those free minutes you get are eaten up not just by the calls you make but by those you receive too.
While it's somewhat unnerving to think that the mobile operators might try and pull this stunt, it's downright terrifying when you hear that Reding says she'll probably let them. Speaking to the FT, about them charging folk to receive calls, she said:
'Why not? The whole market is developing, so we should not stay on the rules that have been in place 10 years . . . I think the business models are not for the European commissioner to decide. Business models are for the operators to decide."
Oh dear. Thoughts anyone?