more on Cell Phone Controversy in Winthrop

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bjørn Vermo <bv () norbionics com>
Date: August 15, 2004 7:20:31 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net, Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Cell Phone Controversy in Winthrop

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 06:02:44 -0400, David Farber <dave () farber net> 
wrote:


>   It's a first-of-its kind attempt. A small, local phone company is 
> trying to charge cellular providers for dialing home phone numbers. If 
> wireless companies don't comply, the company says it will cut off cell 
> phone calls to land lines in the town.

What is first about this? Of course mobile operators have to pay 
landline operators for call termination, just as landline operators 
have to pay mobile operators for calls in the other direction and one 
mobile operator charges the other when customers of one mobile operator 
call customers of another. This is a decade-old integral part of the 
international GSM interoperability. How could it be otherwise? Why 
would one operator want to forward calls the other operator gets all 
the income for?

Does this also mean that the local telephone company is terminating 
long-distance calls from other companies for free?

There have been complaints, both here in Norway and in other countries, 
that incumbent monopoly operators have been charging too much for call 
termination. This applies both to calls from mobile operators and from 
competing landline operators. I have, however, never seen any 
suggestion that they should provide the service for free.

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