New recommendations by the UK’s Competition Commission could see the termination rates charged by the country’s main mobile operators reduced further. In a submission to the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Commission said that a recent appeal made by UK fixed-line incumbent BT and mobile operator 3 UK against regulator Ofcom concerning mobile termination rates was “well founded.” As a result the Commission has determined that the charges for connecting to the O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone networks in the UK should be reduced to £0.04 per minute by 2010/11, lower than the target of £0.051 per minute set by Ofcom in March 2007. Previous reports have suggested that BT could be owed “tens of millions of pounds” by the UK’s mobile operators in repayment of termination fees.

As the UK’s smallest network operator, 3 UK has argued it pays more in termination fees than it receives, and it is therefore unfair that it is subject to the same pricing controls. It has also called for the fees to be virtually eliminated to allow rival operators to compete purely on retail pricing. The Commission ruled that the charge for connecting to 3 UK’s network should be reduced to £0.044 per minute by 2010/11, £0.015 per minute less than the price control under Ofcom’s earlier decision. The Commission said it submitted its proposals to the Competition Appeal Tribunal on 16 January and is waiting for a response. The full report can be viewed here.