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Press Release: 21st July 2009

Post Office Supports Terminate The Rate Campaign

Post Office Telecoms has today pledged its support to reduce the cost of making calls to mobile phones by becoming an official partner of the ‘Terminate the Rate’ campaign. Created through an alliance with BT and 3 UK, the initiative aims to bring down the high charge currently levied by operators to connect calls to mobile phones, which bears little relation to the cost of this service.

The Post Office is one of the top six fixed line telephony providers in the UK. Priding itself on fair and clear pricing structures with no hidden costs, the Post Office is appealing to OFCOM to bring down Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) so they are more in line with costs, to around a penny or less. This is a cost reduction of almost 79 per cent.

Currently accounting for 4.7 pence or more of every minute of a call to a mobile from a landline, the present MTR rate is more than ten-times the rate charged to call a fixed-line phone. If successful, the campaign to reduce this ‘hidden’ cost will save UK consumers and businesses millions of pounds a day.

The campaign is calling on OFCOM to implement changes that will see the cost of MTRs driven down industry-wide, as soon as possible. This would mean lower prices for consumers across the UK.

Martin Moran, head of telephony at the Post Office, said: “The Post Office continually strives to offer the best deals possible to customers; in fact our HomePhone service offers free calls at weekends to mobiles and several international destinations. Value for money and transparency of charges to customers are at the heart of Post Office telephony services which is why we are supporting this campaign to reduce the cost of Mobile Termination Rates, so that we can pass on these savings to our customers.”

“We will be expressing our views on Mobile Termination Rates with Ofcom and encouraging consumers to support a speedy move to lower these inappropriate and unclear charges by signing the petition to Terminate the Rate at www.terminatetherate.org.”

The Post Office joins campaign partners BT, 3, Moneysupermarket.com, Federation of Small Businesses, Carers UK, GMB Union, NUS, Help the Aged and Age Concern.

For more information on the campaign or to sign the petition to bring down the cost of Mobile Termination Rates visit www.terminatetherate.org.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The Post Office offers a range of great value telephony products and services:

E Top-ups
Post Office branches offer a convenient E Top-up service for mobile phones.

Phonecards
Post Office branches offer a range of great value international phonecards

Post Office HomePhone and Broadband
The Post Office Homephone service was launched in January 2005 and offers customers a line rental and calls service. A Broadband service was added in October 2007 and offers customers a cash prepayment option, fast connection speeds, no rural surcharges and a range of great value packages, including bundles with the Post Office’s telephone service – HomePhone.

Post Office 118855
Its directory enquiries service – 118855 – offers one of the most competitive prices on the market with all calls charged at a flat rate of 39.1p (no per minute charges). Customers can get two searches per call and free text back to mobiles.