While the OECD continues to respond to criticisms of its flawed wireless methodology, few people have addressed the failure to include the cost of incoming minutes on most mobile plans.
Let’s step back a second. In North America, our mobile services work on the basis of Mobile Party Pays: incoming and outgoing calls are paid for by the user with the mobile handset. In most of the rest of the world, the Calling Party Pays: incoming calls are free for the mobile user, but the person who placed the call pays an often outrageous fee per minute.
The OECD study ignores this important point. When commenting on my posting from last week, an OECD researcher wrote:
Users in other countries don’t pay for incoming minutes as Canadian and US users do.
Why does the OECD ignore the cost of these incoming minutes – incoming minutes aren’t free; the cost to the caller is relevant.
Our mainstream media failed to apply a critical eye on this story.
For a US perspective on the report, check out PwC’s Communications Direct News.
Mark:
I want to clarify a few points here:
1. The calling party pays a higher fee in Europe, NOT Asia. Countries like India, Pakistan, Thailand, and now Singapore, have free incoming and cheap outgoing at the same time.
2. In Canada, most providers offer free incoming calls for $10/month. Compare it to the fact that a mere Caller ID is $7/month here.