Mobile users to get clearer breakdown of handset costs - MSE News 22 July 2019 at 12:41PM in Mobiles 3 replies 1.3K views

Former_MSE_Callum

Mobile phone customers will be given clearer information about how much of their monthly payment goes towards paying off their handset, as part of a package of new measures announced today by the telecoms regulator aimed at protecting those who are overpaying...

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'Mobile users to get clearer breakdown of handset costs'

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Ian011

This measure is long overdue.

Telephone companies have been making an unwarrented estimated £180 000 000 per year extra out of customers continuing to pay for the handset after the amount already paid has already covered it, as well as increasing the total price of the handset part way through the contract by increasing the cost of the monthy repayments.

Separation of handset cost and service cost is the first step in better transparency of what exactly is being paid for.


In parallel, Ofcom is also working very hard on clarity of call costs, consistency of number ranges, and elimination of anomalies, with the eventual goal of just three different types of charges: inclusive or standard rate (01, 02, 03, 07), free-to-caller (080, 116), and premium rate (with split Access and Service charges) (09, 118). Before then, anomalies with the charges for calling CI and IoM numbers, and 055, 056 and 076 numbers, will have to be addressed. Ofcom is already looking at removal of the 084 and 087 ranges. Charges for calling 070 numbers should change soon after 1 October 2019. This is when the termination (or wholesale) rate for calls to 070 numbers becomes the same as the termination rate for calling a mobile number.

Takmon

Ian011 wrote: »

This measure is long overdue.

Telephone companies have been making an unwarrented estimated £180 000 000 per year extra out of customers continuing to pay for the handset after the amount already paid has already covered it, as well as increasing the total price of the handset part way through the contract by increasing the cost of the monthy repayments.

Separation of handset cost and service cost is the first step in better transparency of what exactly is being paid for.

The only reason this is happening is because people allow the contracts to continue at that price because they are too lazy to cancel and switch to a cheaper sim only deal.

This means that lazy people will benefit from this because most of the networks will decrease the monthly payment automatically. But this also means a significant drop in revenue for the mobile companies so people who keep an eye on their finances (like most people on here) will end up losing out because this will result in contract prices increasing to cover the lost revenue.

Like most measures it benefits the lazy and the financially incompetent while taking away from the people who manage their finances well. Doesn't sound like a good thing to me....

mobilejunkie

Takmon wrote: »

The only reason this is happening is because people allow the contracts to continue at that price because they are too lazy to cancel and switch to a cheaper sim only deal.

This means that lazy people will benefit from this because most of the networks will decrease the monthly payment automatically. But this also means a significant drop in revenue for the mobile companies so people who keep an eye on their finances (like most people on here) will end up losing out because this will result in contract prices increasing to cover the lost revenue.

Like most measures it benefits the lazy and the financially incompetent while taking away from the people who manage their finances well. Doesn't sound like a good thing to me....

I agree, 100%. The nanny state strikes again, no doubt with unintended consequences.