T-Mobile and Truphone Are Not Good Friends

T-Mobile, which is a world leading company in mobile communications, has banned Truphone services from its network, following what appears to be a disagreement regarding termination fees. Truphone is a UK mobile VoIP (voice-over-IP) provider that offers free and cheap calls via dual mode phones such as Nokia E-Series and Nokia N95. T-Mobile declines though any anti-VoIP politics, as they did not block VoIP software on the Nokia N95 phones sold through their network. Also, they cooperate with Skype and Fring, which are both VoIP providers.

T-Mobile's Corporate Communications Manager, Simon Marks, declared: "It is a complete red herring that we are anti-VoIP. Truphone has some of the highest termination rates in the industry. We feel they are not fair and reasonable given their costs and we are trying to sort of reasonable rates."

T-Mobile considers that since Truphone does not have a network to maintain (as mobile operators do), their charges should not be big at all. "The rate Truphone is asking cannot be fair because they mean we would have to charge more. They want our customers to subsidise their customers' cheap calls", Simon Marks said. "Termination rates are meant to reflect the costs of making calls. We don't believe that Truphone's costs are reflected in their termination rates. Their actual operating costs are near zero. They're trying to use high termination fees to make a profit."

"T-Mobile will argue that it is not 'blocking' Truphone but is merely negotiating on price", said James Tagg, Chief Executive at Truphone. "T-Mobile is blocking our numbers unless we accept this loss-making offer and, since T-Mobile is the only company that can route calls from its customers, it has a complete veto on the Truphone service."

Not long ago, Vodafone and Orange also blocked Truphone calls on the Nokia N95 devices sold via their networks.