Mobile phone calls will be cheaper starting on May 1, 2018, the announcement was made today by ANCOM, the National Authority for Communications Administration and Regulation. The change comes after several years in which the tariffs for mobile phone calls have not decreased, but also after Digi Mobil asked for their reduction, ANCOM finally taking note of the requests and announcing the cheaper calls.
According to those from ANCOM, starting with May 1, 2018, a phone call made using a mobile phone will have a termination cost of 0.84 eurocents per minute instead of 0.96 eurocents per minute currently. The decrease of 0.12 eurocents per minute may seem small, but it will bring more national minutes in mobile phone subscriptions and cards, which is beneficial for all consumers.
The price reduction applied by ANCOM was calculated based on an average of the costs for mobile phone calls of mobile phone operators in the European Union, but also after a discussion with the European authorities. This solution was chosen because ANCOM needs 18 months to analyze the real costs of Romanian operators in terms of making phone calls and a change was needed now.
"I propose to reduce the call termination rates to mobile points starting on May 1, 2018, from 0,96 eurocents/minute to 0,84 eurocents/minute, a rate that will be applied until the date on which ANCOM finalizes the new model of pure LRIC cost. The Authority's decision comes as a result of the dialogue with the European Commission on this topic, but also as a result of the fact that the current cost model does not include 4G/LTE technology, a technology that is gaining more and more ground in Romania, bringing efficiency gains."
The new tariff for mobile phone calls will be imposed on all major mobile phone operators in Romania, but also on virtual operators that use the services of those who have infrastructure in the country. Theoretically, the cost reduction for mobile phone calls should bring us more national minutes in subscriptions, but that remains to be seen depending on what the operators will want to do next year.
