The EU Commission has taken steps to block new fixed and mobile termination rates proposed by the Austrian Regulatory authority (RTR), which sought to establish differential rates based on call-origin between EU member states.

The EU Commission has taken steps to block new fixed and mobile termination rates proposed by the Austrian Regulatory authority (RTR), which sought to establish differential rates based on call-origin between EU member states.

Previously the spread of OBR has, for the most part, been based on the asymmetry of termination rates between EEA carriers and non-EEA operators. As a result, in a growing number of European countries, calls originating outside the EU are subject to higher termination rates than those originating within the EU.

Now for the first time, the RTR has attempted to apply differential rates that impact on other EU member states. Its argument is that the EU has failed to enforce a “level playing field” for intra-EU charging, and certain member countries have failed to lower their prices in accordance with the EU Recommendation on Termination Rates. Consequently, RTR , in its new proposal, sought to impose higher termination rates for calls that originate in a member country which has failed to comply with the EU Recommendation.

Blocking the move, the EU Commission concluded that “adopting the origin of the call within the EU as the sole criterion for setting a higher rate is not in line with the non-discrimination principle and it would deepen existing barriers in the internal market”.

Responding for RTR, Austrian regulatory Managing Director Johannes Gungl cited deep disparities between Austria and its neighbouring market Germany as a major example of the problem. Herr Gungl commented : “This obvious asymmetry represents a heavy burden for our telecoms, and put Austrian businesses and consumers, who also have to pay such charges, at a disadvantage. We are simply not going to accept that”.

Despite blocking the request, the EU acknowledged the very real negative issues of a “fragmented” regulatory approach between member countries, and left the door open for further study.

iCONX Head of Sales and Marketing Gavin Stewart commented : “OBR is not going to go away. The market continues to move in its predicted direction, as operators seek to overcome years of thinning margins by correcting charging imbalances wherever and whenever they can”.

According to iCONX analyst Vincent Coessens, the concept of “balance” in the commercial relationship between originating and terminating parties is becoming more noticeable. “Increasingly carriers will make their own decision on what represents a ‘fair’ termination price. The losing party will retaliate with higher rates to restore the commercial balance in a growing trend, which regulators may find difficult to oppose”

iCONX’s interconnect and routing optimisation systems is today fully 100% compliant for loading, rating, reporting and routing of OBR traffic scenarios. Included in the standard iCONX report set are BI tools showing where balance, or “asymmetry” is occurring in commercial carrier relationships. The iCONX solution also supports a complete “any-to-any” granularity of origin vs destination mapping, using intelligent batching processes to allow efficient and timely management of the origin/destination mix.

If your business is experiencing OBR pain today, please contact info@iconxsolutions.com for more information on how we can help you.