Updated news in the ‘Terminate the Rate’ Campaign

More than 150 Members of Parliament have already signed a motion in Parliament to support the Terminate the Rate campaign. 

The Parliamentary motion supports the petition for decreasing the Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) for mobile phone users. When you ring a phone that is served by a different network from your own, or you make a call to a mobile from your landline telephone, the other subscriber’s service provider will levy a fee to your service provider for carrying the call.  This is called a Mobile Termination Rate the current charges for which are around 4.7p or more for each and every minute of the call’s duration. The campaign is calling for this to be lowered to a rate of 1p per minute, or even less.  The motion also appeals to Ofcom to provide a better mobile rate package for users.

The Lancashire MP Nigel Evans, who was one of the first supporters of the campaign, nominated the motion for Terminate the Rate. He is now joined by other MPs, including former Liberal Democratic party leaders, Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell, the Independent MP Clare Short, Jon Cruddas from the Labour Party, Chairman John Whittingdale of the Culture, Media, and Sport select committee from the Conservative Party, and Mark Durkan, the leader of the Social Democratic and Unionist Party.

According to Julie Minns, the head of Regulatory and Public Policy at 3 Mobile, over 150 MPs announced their support for Terminate the Rate, which is a huge achievement for the campaign. It will now be raised in Parliament for a full debate. Minns also mentions that the campaign’s progress in Parliament proves that the issue is significant to both the public and government alike.

The petition is still open for other MPs who would like to support the cause. Each MP who signs EDM 1531 could help in lowering the prices of Mobile Termination Rates and allowing true competition to prosper in the mobile sector.