Ofcom to review mobile routing fees

Telecoms regulator Ofcom today laid out a number of proposals on how the price mobile operators charge to connect calls to each others networks, or mobile termination rates, should be set.

The charges are set in Britain until 2011 and Ofcom has launched a review to examine how they should be set after that period.

Ofcom said lower rates could allow operators to launch new, more competitive packages to benefit consumers.

It set out six options, ranging from maintaining the current system to more "radical alternatives" such as where the customer's own network is responsible for all costs of making and receiving phone calls.

The European Commission has laid out plans to slash the fee for routing mobile calls, but many operators have denounced the plans, saying they would hinder investment in new, faster networks.