Communications Regulatory Authority to clamp down on overcharging for calls to corporate numbers
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Finland's Communications Regulatory Authority wants to put a stop to what it sees as overcharging for calls to so-called company numbers.
The numbers, with prefixes such as 010, 020, and 030, often lead the callers to company switchboards. Calling the numbers from a fixed-line telephone is not very expensive, but calls from mobile phones can cost up to 30 cents a minute.
Consumers are often unaware of the high cost, until the next telephone bill comes. Companies and state offices with such numbers do not benefit from the billing; most of the profits go to the caller's mobile service provider and the telecommunications company that offers the service to the company.
Service providers have tried to justify the pricing by pointing to the high costs of the technology involved. Tapani Rantanen of the Communications Regulatory Authority rejects this argument, saying that ordinary telephone networks have developed so much that corporate telephone systems are no longer so very complicated by comparison.
Jukka Vattinen of the service provider Elisa blames mobile operators, saying that Elisa is forced to pay a relay fee to the companies whenever their customers call a corporate number maintained by Elisa.
"This wholesale price has remained unchanged since April 2001, even though the other prices have come down significantly. If the wholesale price comes down, we will certainly pass it on to consumer prices."
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 30.3.2005 - TODAY |
 Communications Regulatory Authority to clamp down on overcharging for calls to corporate numbers |
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