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The UK communications regulator has today launched a couple of new consultations to set future regulation for the wholesale markets that enable landline and mobile phone calls. A number of changes have been proposed as part of this, although most of them are fairly minor or merely confirm a continuation of the existing approach.
The first consultation – open for feedback until 10th October 2025 (final decision due Q1 2026) – focuses upon call termination rates and will cover the period from April 2026 to March 2031. When someone calls a UK phone number, the caller’s network provider pays a wholesale charge to the recipient’s phone company for connecting the call. This is known as a ‘termination rate’.
Ofcom are proposing several measures to “promote competition between call providers and ensure customers can make and receive calls across mobile and landline networks“. Most notably they are proposing to maintain the current price caps for termination rates (0.0365 pence per minute for landlines and 0.487 pence per minute for mobile), instead of indexing them to inflation.
In addition, the regulator wants to “simplify some of our rules” and to remove a specific obligation (the End-to-End Connectivity Condition) that applies only to BT, which was initially intended to enable new entrants to secure quick market entry through BT’s established connectivity arrangements with the rest of the market. “This is because the market has evolved and there are alternative options available,” said Ofcom.
Ofcom’s Proposals for Call Terminations
To continue to set caps on the charges for terminating calls to landlines and mobile phones in the UK. Without these proposed caps, providers would have the ability and incentive to charge excessively high rates for termination. This is because an originating provider has no other choice than to buy the termination service from the terminating provider.
To keep the proposed caps for mobile and fixed call termination at their current nominal levels throughout the review period, until March 2031. We propose to maintain the current caps (0.0365 pence per minute for fixed and 0.487 pence per minute for mobile), instead of indexing them to a measure of inflation, as this is more likely to reflect the costs borne by industry in offering these services going forwards. This would also avoid the need for operators to conduct an annual revision of domestic charges in their billing systems and incur consequential costs.
To continue to impose network access conditions for all providers offering fixed call termination and mobile call termination.
To continue to impose additional remedies on BT relating to its provision of fixed call termination and associated facilities but remove conditions relating to legacy technology. These remedies include a requirement not to unduly discriminate, various transparency requirements and financial reporting requirements. These remedies are justified in light of BT’s position in the market as the largest provider of fixed call termination and an important interconnection partner for other fixed providers. The conditions we propose to remove have become redundant because BT no longer provides call termination services on its legacy network.
To continue to set a cap on termination rates for calls to 070 numbers (also known as personal numbers) equivalent to the proposed cap for mobile termination rates. Without the proposed cap, providers would have the ability and incentive to charge excessively high rates for termination of calls to 070 numbers, with potential adverse consequences on end-users (for example, artificial inflation of traffic through fraud and bill shock).
To revoke the End-to-End (E2E) Connectivity Condition with effect from 1 April 2026. We propose to revoke the access-related condition requiring BT to purchase termination from other providers on reasonable request and on reasonable terms and conditions, including charges.
In addition, Ofcom are also consulting on free-to-caller numbers (those beginning 080 and 116) until 26th September 2025. Such numbers are typically used by businesses, charities and public sector organisations and can have important social uses, such as for helplines. They remain very common. Ofcom are required by law to review these and are merely proposing to maintain them.