More Use of Mobiles for International Long Distance

Participants on a Pacific Telecommunications panel on voice peering agreed that mobile termination rates are under pressure. That is one reason why more people now are using their mobiles to originate international long distance calls, as TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckart says. 

Asked about the notion that many forms of voice will move to some "no incremental charge" basis, panelists from Orange, Sparkle and Rogers Communications agreed that regulators are unlikely to disallow cost recovery that the termination regime now permits and requires. 

There still are costs to terminate calls, and those costs will have to be recovered. What remains unclear, though, is whether the incidence of those cost recovery mechanisms will remain where they presently are. It is possible that broadband connections might emerge as the replacement, in some cases.