Wholesale mobile voice call termination market review – stakeholder workshop to discuss options to address flip-flopping

Register for a workshop in October 2010

On 1 April 2010, we published our second consultation on wholesale mobile voice call termination (MCT), as part of our ongoing market review. This consultation set out our proposals concerning the regulation we propose to apply for the period of the next review (1 April 2011 to 31 March 2015).

The consultation document can be found here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/wmctr

The current MCT charge control has no restrictions on how often the four national MCPs (mobile communications providers) are able to change their mobile termination rates (MTRs), nor the size of any adjustments (provided the requirements in relation to average charges are met).

During the current control, a number of fixed providers and one of the national MCPs raised with us concerns over frequent and significant variations in MTRs by some MCPs (a practice referred to in industry as flip-flopping). In our second consultation we proposed a number of options that aimed to minimise this practice.

We have taken responses to this consultation into consideration and wish to discuss our current views more widely with industry. We plan to hold a workshop in October to give industry stakeholders an opportunity to discuss and share views on our approach to flip-flopping. Those interested in attending should contact Clare Rees for further information on clare.rees@ofcom.org.uk.