[andy]

Sorry I forgot to specify for cellphones. I just thought it odd that the writer was on about under 5 cents wholesale termination costs for landlines, then stepped to a position of therefore wanting roaming calls to mobiles based on similar rates. I don't know if the muddled thinking of then comparing instances from the USA was in the writer's choice of words or only my reading of it.

Going back to Vodafone and Passport, to begin with it was available only for their own networks, which isn't too surprising. I had a conversation with people at Orange a few years back (before V. Passport) and asked why couldn't they offer cheaper roaming on their other networks, as they were then catching all the revenue instead of paying to a rival. The reply was that the competition authorities would block it as unfair, the kind of doublethink that you never quite decide if you believe or not. But maybe that is why Passport now has an arrangement in all EU countries. Pity if they can't eventually reduce the connection fee, which is fine on long calls but actually more expensive on a series of calls under a minute or two.

Friends on O2 contracts have managed to be offered My Europe Extra free from the Retentions Team on renewal, but cutting the monthly fee on prepaid looks harder to do unless the competition hots up some more; maybe it needs Orange and T-mobile to wake up and produce some ideas.