TMG Reports
A Primer on Mobile Termination Rates
References
Telecommunications Management Group, Inc. estimates that there were 181 billion minutes of incoming traffic in mobile networks in Western Europe in 2004.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Mobile Services Review: Mobile Terminating Access Service. June 2004.
United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC). “The Effect of Foreign Mobile Termination Rates on U.S. Customers.” Notice of Inquiry. October 26, 2004. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-247A1.pdf
France Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP). « Analyse des Marches. » Press Release. December 10, 2004 http://www.art-telecom.fr
Singapore Infocomm Development Authority (IDA). Decision Paper: Charging for Mobile Phone Services: Mobile-Party-Pays (“MPP”) vs Calling-Party-Pays (“CPP”). 23 December 2002. http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/doc/download/I854/Decision_Paper_-_Review_of_Charging_for_Mobile_Phone_Services.pdf
Décision du Conseil de l’IBPT du 5 août 2004 relative à la régulation des charges de terminaison MTR de l’opérateur Belgacom Mobile (Proximus). http://www.bipt.be/Conseil/JPP-D%E9cision-MTR-Proximus-price-cap.pdf
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. A Report on a Public Inquiry Under Section 65 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 on Access Pricing. July 31, 2002. http://www.cmc.gov.my/registers/cma/report/pdf/accprice.pdf
For example, if operator A and operator B each send 100 million minutes of mobile traffic to each other, then the traffic is in balance and there is no mobile termination charged. On the other hand, if operator A sends 60 million minutes to operator B and operator B only sends 40 million, then the traffic sent by one operator exceeds 55% of the total (60/(60+40)=60%) and a termination charge is applicable from operator A to operator B.
Independent Regulators Group (IRG), “Snapshot of Mobile Termination Rates (MTR)” available at http://irgis.anacom.pt/admin/attachs/385.pdf
France ART. “Market Analysis: ART concludes its first market analysis, on mobile call termination in Metropolitan France.” 10 December 2004. http://www.art-telecom.fr/communiques/pressrelease/2004/ang101204-2.htm
UK Office of Communications. Review of mobile wholesale voice call termination markets, 15 May 2003. http://ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/eu_directives/2003/ctm/ctm0503.pdf
Portugal ANACOM. Wholesale Markets for Voice Call Termination in Individual Mobile Markets. February 2005.
Portugal ANACOM Determination of 29.5.2002. Prices for national termination in the networks of calls originated in mobile terminals, to be in force in 2002. http://www.anacom.pt/template12.jsp?categoryId=37147
UK Office of Communications. “Wholesale Mobile Voice Call Termination charge controls - request for consent.” July 8, 2004. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/charge_controls/charge_controls/?a=87101
Refile refers to the practice of routing international traffic via another country to disguise the origination. For example, assume traffic originating in Country A with a destination in Country B that is refiled through Country C. For Country B, the traffic appears to originate in Country C rather than Country A.
OECD. International Refile of Mobile Traffic (Tromboning). 2001. http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2000doc.nsf/0/c125692700623b74c1256a77003a644e/$FILE/JT00110190.DOC
Telecom Italia. 2003 Annual Report Form 20-F.
In 2004, telecommunications consultancy TeleGeography reported that 25% of international traffic terminated on mobile phones. The United States Federal Communications Commission estimated that 27.5% of international traffic terminated on mobile phones in 2002. See “The Impact Of Mobile Networks On International Traffic,” Global Telecommunications Meeting, Washington, DC, May 18th 2004 and United States Federal Communications Commission, 26 October 2004, The Effect of Foreign Mobile Termination Rates on U.S. Customers.
The WTO Reference Paper says this about interconnection rates: “…cost-oriented rates that are transparent, reasonable, having regard to economic feasibility…” See http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/tel23_e.htm
The EU regulatory framework notes: “Price control may be necessary when market analysis in a particular market reveals inefficient competition. The regulatory intervention may be …an obligation that prices are cost oriented to provide full justification for those prices where competition is not sufficiently strong to prevent excessive pricing.” http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/liberalization/legislation/regulatory_framework.pdf
Office of Utility Regulation (OUR, Jamaica). Decision on Assessment of Dominance in Mobile Call Termination. September 2004. http://www.our.org.jm/PDF-FILES/Mobile%20Call%20Termination_Determination%20Notice31-08-04.pdf
Telecommunications Act 2001: Schedule 3 Investigation into Regulation of Mobile Termination. Draft Report. 18 October 2004.
“BTA Ruling No. 1 of 2003: Ruling on Interconnection Charges Dispute Between Botswana Telecommunications Corporation and Mascom Wireless (Pty) Limited,” February 26, 2003, http://www.bta.org.bw/pubs/Ruling%20no%203-%20Interconnection%20Disputes%20BTC-Mascom%20%2025%20FEB%202003.pdf
“BTA Ruling No. 2 of 2003: Ruling on Interconnection Charges Dispute Between Mascom Wireless (Pty) Limited and Orange Botswana (Pty) Limited,” September 24, 2003, http://www.bta.org.bw/pubs/Ruling%20no%204%20-%20Interconnection%20Dispute%20Ruling%20%20Orange%20-Mascom%2024%20Sept%202003.pdf
“Interconnection Determination No. 1 of 2004,” September 30, 2004, http://www.tcra.go.tz/Publications/INTERCONNECTION%20DETERMINATION%20NO.1%20OF%2030-09-2004.pdf
“Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. A Report on a Public Inquiry Under Section 65 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 on Access Pricing,” July 31, 2002, http://www.cmc.gov.my/registers/cma/report/pdf/accprice.pdf
“Public Hearing on Tariff for Calling Party Pays System Under the Section 12 of the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act No. 25 of 1991 as Amended,” February 29, 2005, http://www.trc.gov.lk/pdf/pub_note.pdf
“Public Hearing to review the tariff approved by the Commission for the introduction of Calling Party Pays (CPP) System,” November 10, 2005, http://www.trc.gov.lk/pdf/cppeng.pdf
Directive 2002/21/EC (Framework Directive), Directive 2002/19/EC (Access Directive), Directive 2002/20/EC (Authorisation Directive), Directive 2002/22/EC (Universal Service Directive), and Directive 2002/58/EC (Privacy Directive)
“Market Analysis: ART concludes its first market analysis on mobile call termination in Metropolitan France,” December 10, 2004, http://www.arcep.fr/communiques/pressrelease/2004/index-101204-2.htm
“Wholesale Mobile Voice Call Termination Statement,” June 1, 2004, http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/mobile_call_termination/wmvct/wmvct.pdf
“Market Analysis - Decision on SMP Obligations: Wholesale Voice Call Termination on Individual Mobile Networks,” http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0578.pdf
“Supplementary Consultative Document: Assessment of Dominance in Mobile Call Termination,” March 30, 2004, http://www.our.org.jm/new/PDF-FILES/DominanceConsult_MobilTermination.pdf
“Decision on Assessment of Dominance in Mobile Call Termination,” September 2, 2004, http://www.our.org.jm/PDF-FILES/Mobile%20Call%20Termination_Determination%20Notice31-08-04.pdf
Peru Osiptel. “Resolución de consejo directivo N0 070-2005 CD.” 21 November 2005 http://www.osiptel.gob.pe/Index.ASP?T=T&IDBase=0&P=%2FOsiptelDocs%2Fvarios%2Ffijacion%5Fcargo%5Ftope%2F%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2FGCC%2Fel%5Fsector%2FNORMAS%5FOSIPTEL%2Fres%5Fcdirectivo%2Ffiles%2F2005%2Fres0702005CDOSIPTEL%2Epdf
“Determination on Prices for Telecommunication Services in Fiji,” September 5, 2005, http://www.commcomm.gov.fj/docs/FINALDETERMINATION5thSept.pdf
Botswana Telecommunications Authority. “Ruling on Interconnection Charges Dispute Between: Mascom Wireless (Pty) Limited and Orange Botswana (Pty) Limited,” 24 September 2003. http://www.bta.org.bw/pubs/Ruling%20no%204%20-%20Interconnection%20Dispute%20Ruling%20%20Orange%20-Mascom%2024%20Sept%202003.pdf
New Zealand Commerce Commission, Telecommunications Act 2001: Schedule 3 Investigation into Regulation of Mobile Termination. Final Report. 9 June 2005. http://www.comcom.govt.nz//IndustryRegulation/Telecommunications/Investigations/MobileTerminationRates/ContentFiles/Documents/MT%20Report%20PUBLIC%20version1.pdf
David Rogerson. “The regulatory context for fixed mobile interconnection.” http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/fmi/workshop/rogerson.pdf
Annex to the European Electronic Communications Regulation and Markets 2004 (1oth Report) Annex 3 Market Overview.
Ofcom (UK). Wholesale Mobile Voice Call Termination Statement. June 2004.