The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged 3
Ofcom order UK operators to cut termination rates
Apr 3rd
It’s not unusual for government departments to quietly shuffle out press releases bearing bad news when something else major is going on – but in this case Ofcom decided to tell the world some good news, but everyone was more interested in the G20.
Anyway, Ofcom have decided that from Friday mobile termination rates – i.e. the rates networks charge for connecting calls on their networks – are going to be cut by up to 21%.
The new rates, set for the next two years, are as follows: Vodafone and O2 – 4.71p/minute (down 8.4%), T-Mobile and Orange – 4.84p/minute (down 11.1%), and 3 – aka H3G – a rather large drop of 20.9% to 5.83p/minute.
Whether these cuts will be passed on to the end user – either by tweaks to minute bundles or actual per minute charge reductions – remains to be seen.
via UK watchdog orders mobile termination rate cuts | Reuters.
Rumour: New Skype/3 INQ phone(s) tomorrow?
Mar 31st
Yes I know, it’s another piece of Skype news – but this time it’s not related to the iPhone 
I’ve just been talking to @jamesbody on Twitter about a possible announcement of some new lovely Skype/3 INQ handsets tomorrow. Whilst I appreciate it’s April Fool’s Day in less than 12 hours time, and any announcement timed to coincide with April 1st should always be looked at with a slightly pessimistic eye, this one might just be right.
According to James, 3 (or H3G as we know them in certain parts of the industry) have got no stock of the S1 or S2 handsets in their stores. The INQ1 has been on a stock-clearance style special offer recently, bundled with a six month tarif for just £15 – which curiously ends today. In addition, James’s local H3G store has been busy clearing its shelves.
Of course, it could be just a coincidence all these things are happening at once – but like when Apple take their store down for maintenance, there’s usually no smoke without fire..
UPDATE 01/04: James reports that the offers that were supposed to end yesterday have been extended, and there’s nothing new on 3′s website. Perhaps they figured today was a bad day to launch something.
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