Mobile phone calls set to get cheaper, with new Ofcom proposals

Under new plans unveiled by Ofcom we could all  be in for cheaper mobile phone calls and easier network switching, starting from 2011.

Based on instructions from the European Commission last year which outlined fairer ways to bill for mobile calls, the telecoms regulator has proposed to slash the prices that UK operators can charge customers.  Currently networks can charge 4.3 pence per minute for connecting cross-network calls - so that a Vodafone customer calling an Orange customer, for example, could be charged a fairly high rate. New connection rates, which will be phased in by 2015, will be just 0.5p per minute.

Ofcom believes the changes, which will be set for a four-year period, will save consumers a total of £800 million over the four years; but analysts have warned that networks will be looking to make up the shortfall in their turnover elsewhere. "This is not small money. They are going to look to make this up in other areas. It may be they decide to increase prices for less price-sensitive customers," Matthew Howlett, a telecoms analyst told the BBC.

Other changes proposed by Ofcom include new rules on how long a network can take allow a customer to move to another network. By 2011 changing mobile providers should take only one working day, and operators will be required to issue PAC codes -  needed to port a mobile number across networks -  within two hours.

However mobile operator 3 was not impressed by the new switching rules. A spokesperson said  "The UK is the only country in Europe where you have to ask permission from your current operator to leave and take your mobile number with you. In other countries, consumers benefit from near-instant porting and don't have to ask permission to move their number."

All of Ofcom's new proposals will undergo a short consultation period later this year.