As the Director General responded, the price of mobile phone calls is an area in which Oftel has taken a strong interest. This suggests a functioning marketplace. Oftel is pursuing further work in the area of transparency of mobile tariffs both in defining the scale of the problem and ensuring appropriate information is available. This memorandum describes that work. It is being given priority and is very thorough.
Tariffs are complex.
But competing operators do provide a wide range of packages and prices to suit the differing needs of different groups of consumers. Because tariffs are usage based there is no simple single figure that could be imposed to allow the easy comparison of mobile tariffs, such as APR in the financial services market. It is doubtful if any such measure could be devised. Additionally, the imposition of tariff structures on operators and service providers could have a detrimental effect on the extent of price competition and therefore consumers in the long term. Oftel will be working with DTI to investigate the issue of tariff transparency in the mobile market and whether there is consumer detriment from alleged tariff complexity.