Developments in Mobile Termination

Wholesale interconnection rates for mobile telephony service in the OECD area have decreased by 53% from 2006 to 2011. The charges, or mobile termination rates (MTRs), represent the fees that telecommunication network operators (fixed, mobile and VoIP) pay for delivering telephone calls to mobile wireless providers. Lower rates enable competition in the telecommunications market, encourage greater usage of mobile services through flexible unlimited call plans, and increase overall consumer welfare. Furthermore, it is only in countries where rates are lowest or even at zero that new innovative VoIP services like Google Voice are able to flourish. This report is timely because many regulatory bodies, including in the United States and the European Commission, are debating whether to phase out MTRs altogether.