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BIPT in Drastic Call Cost Cuts
(02 Feb 2010, BWCS Staff)The Belgian telecoms regulator is seeking to force mobile operators to slash the fees they charge each other by half. The watchdog says the move is aimed at cutting costs for consumers and businesses and boosting competition. However, the carriers argue that the money they charge for terminating calls from other networks is a vital revenue stream and such a drastic reduction would, they say, hit them hard.
The regulatory body in Belgium, the BIPT, shocked many with the severity of the cuts it called for when it made its announcement late yesterday. It is widely expected that the main mobile companies in Belgium will lodge an immediate appeal against the proposed mobile termination fee reductions. Mobile operators said they had been expecting cuts of around 20%.
While the operators may rage against the steepness of the cuts, and point out that since 2006, mobile charges have already fallen by 50% in the country, they know they will face further cuts over the next few years as Belgium falls into line with other EU countries. By 2013, the EU-imposed deadline for parity in mobile termination rates, each operator will be able to charge a little over one euro cent per minute for calls coming onto their networks. Currently the rate is between seven and eleven times that figure in Belgium.
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