The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has confirmed up to 80% reduction in Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) over the next four years.

As of 1^st April 2011, Ofcom is going to place a cap on MTRs charged by the four national mobile network operators; 3UK, o2, Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile) and Vodafone. This cap will lead to a reduction of up to 80%.

Ofcom proposed MTRs (pence per minute)

The new rates will apply from 1^st April 2011 and end on 31^st March 2015.

Ofcom has been reviewing the MTRs since 2009 and at the same time the European Commission (EC) issued a Recommendation that fixed and mobile termination rates be limited to the incremental costs of providing call termination to other communications providers (the 2009 EC Recommendation).

It will be interesting to see what the reaction of the four national mobile operators here in the UK will be.

TIM, Telecom Italia Mobile, is now offering three new tariffs;

- Tutto Compresso 500 at EUR 29 per month

- Tutto Compresso 1000 at EUR 49 per month

- Tutto Compresso 1500 at EUR 59 per month

These new tariffs include free minutes; 500, 1000 and 1500 respectively.

Furthermore, customers can customise their tariffs to suit their needs with the any of the following add ons:

- Internet Option; Unlimited Internet for EUR 10 per month

- Messaging Options; 200 SMS/MMS at EUR 5 per month or 600 SMS/MMS at EUR 10 per month

- Phone Option; Choose a phone from EUR 5 per month.

Full details about these tariffs can be found in our T-Cellular Online (TCO) database.

Teligen monitors price developments of this sort in its monthly updates of TCO http://sa-link.cc/2x

The mobile tariff market changes every month and the operators are trying to be imaginative in their quest to entice new subscribers as well as how they can keep their current customers happy. Below are only some of the changes we have come across during our February update of T-Cellular Online (TCO)

In the Italian market for example, operator WIND has decided to increase its minutes and SMS allowances on three of its successful "Tutto Incluso in un'unica offerta" price plans. Silver-free SMS and minutes increased from 600 per month to 800. Gold-free SMS and minutes increased from 1200 per month to 1500. Platinum- free SMS and minutes increased from 2000 per month to 2500

Its "Tutto Incluso in un'unica offerta" Silver, Gold and Platinum offer now 200, 300 and 500 more minutes and text per month respectively, comparing with the previous month.

It is important highlight also that those offers included unlimited calls to a chosen on-net number and unlimited internet traffic on the mobile phone.

On the other hand, VIMPELCOM, Russia has replaced its existing offers and introduced the new range of Apple Fresh price plans.

Meanwhile, T-MOBILE UK imposed a fair use policy (FUP) for data browsing of up to 500Mb per month, (was 1GB) to all its voice plans. The same FUP applies also to all voice tariffs with no data included as part of the allowance but ?1.02 maximum is charged per day of use. Moreover, this operator has also modified charges for its PAYG offers as follow:

Calls to fixed lines and other mobiles in the UK decreased 20% from last month, while on-net calls, SMS and MMS increased slightly.

THREE, UK has reduced its offers for the IPhone 4 16GB, Now this handset is offered only with ?The One Plan ?35 or ?45?. However for the iPhone 4 32GB the Texter offers remain available but with the exclusion of the 5000 minutes to the same network. the iPhone 3GS is offered now with none upfront cost with the Texter GBP30 or The One Plan GBP35, last month offered at GBP49 and GBP19 respectively.

As of February Vodafone UK decided to reduce its monthly contracts to their original pre-VAT increase levels (VAT in the UK increased to 20% in January 2011).

For Vodafone, the VAT increase in January was percentage based, affecting mainly customers who pay higher monthly rates. For example, on a GBP10 per month contract before the increase, the bill increased by only 21 pence to GBP10.21. However, on a GBP70 per month contract, bills went up to GBP71.50.

However, these increases have now been reverted and customers are been offered GBP10, GBP70, or whatever the original rounded monthly fee was before the 20% VAT increase.

Vodafone is absorbing the additional VAT cost by making a slight change to their call charging system. The cost of out of bundle calls increased slightly and all calls are now charged at a minimum call length of 1 minute.

The tariffs mentioned above have been entered into our T-Cellular Online Service (TCO), where the full range of tariffs is available with all tariff details.

Teligen monitors price developments of this sort in its monthly updates of T-Cellular Online http://sa-link.cc/2x

On 7 March, KPN introduced two new tariffs for mobile internet users, as well as a new range of basic plans.

Personal SIM iPhone comprises eight bundles of between 150 and 1500 minutes and/or text messages. In addition, each bundle includes 1MB of mobile data.     KPN's discontinued iPhone plans included 500MB or 1000MB. Therefore, the data allowance increased on all plans, with the most marked increase on the lower value plan. However, the discontinued plans offered two text messages for every minute, which is no longer the case. These tariffs are available on 12 and 24 month contracts

Non iPhone users are now being offered Personal SIM Smart: a range of smartphone tariffs broadly similar to those for the iPhone. There are nine plans in the range, which starts at 100 minutes or SMS. 1000MB per month is also included. Again These tariffs are available on both 12 and 24 month contracts.

Customers whose requirements are limited to calling and texting can now choose from five plans in the refreshed Personal SIM: Bel + SMS range.     These offer between 100 and 350 minutes or SMS. Data usage is possible but at a cost of EUR1.50 per MB.

Both sets of tariffs, Personal Sim iPhone and Personal Sim Smart, reflect the increasing focus on data in the developed mobile markets. Significantly, whilst the iPhone and Smartphone offerings are broadly similar, there is one major difference. Data speeds on offer for the iPhone are stated as 7.2Mbps, whereas for the Smartphone plan, speeds do not exceed 3.6Mbps.

The tariffs above have been extracted directly from our T-Cellular Online Service (TCO), where the full range of tariffs is available with all tariff details.

Teligen monitors price developments of this sort in its monthly updates of T-Cellular Online http://sa-link.cc/2x

T-Mobile Austria has introduced the a new plan Hit Germany, the plan is aimed at users who contact Germany frequently and is also available as a SIM only.

* Denotes roaming minutes.

Orange Austria also offers a very similar plan with more roaming minutes included but fewer SMS included.

Mobile operators are increasingly offering reduced international rates as an option or as an integral part of a tariff, as shown in the table above. As in the case of these tariffs, they can be based on international traffic between two closely linked countries such as Germany and Austria, or else based on the user's ethnicity. Similarly, many operators in Germany offer packages for reduced calls and texts to Turkey and French operators have similar offers to users originating from Northern Africa.

These tariffs have been extracted directly from our T-Cellular Online Service (TCO).

Teligen monitors price developments of this sort in its monthly updates of T-Cellular Online http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=navigationheader&a0=1530&a1=0