Ofcom promises cheaper calls as users switch to data

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Ofcom is looking at ways to make it less expensive to call mobile phones from landlines, including cutting mobile termination rates.

Those rates are what operators charge their rivals to connect to each others networks.

At the moment, those rates are around 4.3 pence per minute. Ofcom wants to see them fall to 0.5p per minute by 2015.

Slashing such costs would give operators "more flexibility in designing competitive call packages, promoting competition for the benefit of consumers," Ofcom claimed, saying its last rate rollback helped spark competition from mobile virtual network operators and VoIP rivals.

But that's not the only reason the regulator is looking to cut such charges. It's also looking to address the increasing use of mobile data, which means voice calls make up less of the overall cost for operators.

"Today’s consumers are as likely to send text messages or emails as make phone calls and mobiles are increasingly used to connect to the internet," it said, adding that data traffic increased by 200 per cent last year.

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