OXFORD, United Kingdom-The U.K.-based consumer magazine Which has called on prepaid cell-phone users to consider saving money by switching to yearly contracts with their mobile operators. The magazine claimed that pay-as-you-go users who spend more than 30 euro (US$29.58) a month could save money in the medium term.
To substantiate its claim, the magazine said it conducted a survey of nearly 1,000 U.K. prepaid users, of which nearly 50 percent could have reduced the cost of cell-phone calls by switching to a contract deal. Following the publication of its findings, the magazine has launched a campaign to alert prepaid users to the issue with the intent of encouraging them to actively consider how they pay for calls. According to Which, there are more than 30 million prepaid users in the United Kingdom.
Separately, Europe’s fifth-largest mobile phone operator, MmO2, has warned regulators that it will consider cutting back on investment and jobs if the industry regulators force operators to lower prices. The UK-based regulator Oftel suggested last year that a price cut of 12 percent below the rate of inflation for the next four years is in the cards, which most U.K. operators grudgingly accepted. However, if competition authorities now call for further reductions, MmO2 said it would cut back on third-generation (3G) investments.
