Sam
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Dear Mr
I am writing to tell you about the latest FSB campaign that will save you and your business money through lower phone bills. But it needs your help for us to succeed and all it will take is a couple of clicks (get the "terminate the rate" document here)
The FSB has joined up with BT and 3, to persuade phone regulator Ofcom to reduce the cost of fixed and mobile phone calls made to a different operator than your own, down to the level of what it really costs - less than a penny a minute.
At the moment each mobile operator is allowed, by an Ofcom regulation, to charge a massive mark-up above the actual cost. Originally this was to enable mobile phone networks to be built when they had no customers of their own, but now that's been done it is becoming easy profit for them – at our expense. This mark-up, called a ‘Termination Rate', is set at around 5p for every minute of a call to a mobile phone, yet the real cost is less than a penny. This would allow real competition and save you money.
Ofcom is currently reviewing this regulation so we have a real opportunity to secure a reduction in Mobile Termination Rates in the UK so that it's cheaper for you to use your phone. Which is why we've set up a campaign.
Our campaign is called ‘Terminate the Rate' and is being run by a coalition of organisations of which The FSB is proud to be a launch partner along with BT, mobile phone operator 3, the GMB trades union, Carers UK, price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com, and the National Union of Students.
Since the launch, many more organisations have also joined, including Age Concern/Help the Aged, and the Post Office. There are now 65 organisations supporting ‘Terminate the Rate' including 40 local authorities. A full list of supporters is in the attached newsletter, along with more information about the issue.
We know how much it will help our members, especially those who have to make many calls to mobile phones. And because a reduction in MTRs will help consumers as well as businesses with their phone bills, your customers will all have more money available to spend.
We've already had over 125,000 people sign our electronic petition at www.terminatetherate.org and our campaign is backed by 262 Members of Parliament who have signed a motion in Parliament calling for this change.
And I'd love you to add your business' name to our campaign by sending an email to:
enquiries@terminatetherateblog.org
Please just include your business name and address and a contact name. We'll include you as a supporter of the campaign in our submission to Ofcom.
And if you could forward this email to any other business contacts you have it would be fantastically helpful. The more support we get the more chance we have of succeeding.
So thanks very much for your help – remember, if enough people sign up, we can win the campaign and all get those cheaper phone calls.
Yours truly,
John Wright
Chairman
FSB
p.s.
Would you forward this email on to your friends, family and work colleagues to ask them to sign the public petition too? We've set ourselves a target of 250,000 signatures and we're already over half way there.
When you do, perhaps you could put a little note at the top along the lines of:
Hello,
There's a campaign going on to tell Ofcom and the government to cut the cost of phoning mobiles from landlines or from mobiles on different networks. There's a petition to sign at www.terminatetherate.org I've signed it – and it would be great if you could sign it as well. It's easy, and worth it.
The email below that I got from the Federation of Small Businesses tells you a bit more about it.
This would really help us win. Remember to type your name at the end before you press send.
Thanks
John Wright
Dear Mr
I am writing to tell you about the latest FSB campaign that will save you and your business money through lower phone bills. But it needs your help for us to succeed and all it will take is a couple of clicks (get the "terminate the rate" document here)
The FSB has joined up with BT and 3, to persuade phone regulator Ofcom to reduce the cost of fixed and mobile phone calls made to a different operator than your own, down to the level of what it really costs - less than a penny a minute.
At the moment each mobile operator is allowed, by an Ofcom regulation, to charge a massive mark-up above the actual cost. Originally this was to enable mobile phone networks to be built when they had no customers of their own, but now that's been done it is becoming easy profit for them – at our expense. This mark-up, called a ‘Termination Rate', is set at around 5p for every minute of a call to a mobile phone, yet the real cost is less than a penny. This would allow real competition and save you money.
Ofcom is currently reviewing this regulation so we have a real opportunity to secure a reduction in Mobile Termination Rates in the UK so that it's cheaper for you to use your phone. Which is why we've set up a campaign.
Our campaign is called ‘Terminate the Rate' and is being run by a coalition of organisations of which The FSB is proud to be a launch partner along with BT, mobile phone operator 3, the GMB trades union, Carers UK, price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com, and the National Union of Students.
Since the launch, many more organisations have also joined, including Age Concern/Help the Aged, and the Post Office. There are now 65 organisations supporting ‘Terminate the Rate' including 40 local authorities. A full list of supporters is in the attached newsletter, along with more information about the issue.
We know how much it will help our members, especially those who have to make many calls to mobile phones. And because a reduction in MTRs will help consumers as well as businesses with their phone bills, your customers will all have more money available to spend.
We've already had over 125,000 people sign our electronic petition at www.terminatetherate.org and our campaign is backed by 262 Members of Parliament who have signed a motion in Parliament calling for this change.
And I'd love you to add your business' name to our campaign by sending an email to:
enquiries@terminatetherateblog.org
Please just include your business name and address and a contact name. We'll include you as a supporter of the campaign in our submission to Ofcom.
And if you could forward this email to any other business contacts you have it would be fantastically helpful. The more support we get the more chance we have of succeeding.
So thanks very much for your help – remember, if enough people sign up, we can win the campaign and all get those cheaper phone calls.
Yours truly,
John Wright
Chairman
FSB
p.s.
Would you forward this email on to your friends, family and work colleagues to ask them to sign the public petition too? We've set ourselves a target of 250,000 signatures and we're already over half way there.
When you do, perhaps you could put a little note at the top along the lines of:
Hello,
There's a campaign going on to tell Ofcom and the government to cut the cost of phoning mobiles from landlines or from mobiles on different networks. There's a petition to sign at www.terminatetherate.org I've signed it – and it would be great if you could sign it as well. It's easy, and worth it.
The email below that I got from the Federation of Small Businesses tells you a bit more about it.
This would really help us win. Remember to type your name at the end before you press send.
Thanks
John Wright
