Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by ksec on Sunday August 24, 2014 @01:05PM (#8219024)

Britain has forced companies to lease their networks to competitors at cost?

So anyone could just enter the market?

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by izacus on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:57PM (#8219490)

That's a rather common practice to fight natural monopolies - here in Slovenia the largest operator (which was merged together from a landline / mobile / ISP) has to provide it's own networks (landline / FTTH / mobile) to competitors at a market price.

Keeps the competition going and benefits users.

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by cperciva on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:10PM (#8219360)

So anyone could just enter the market?

Better question, why would anyone ever build a network if they are prohibited from making a profit?

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by sgift on Sunday August 24, 2014 @04:39PM (#8219589)

That kind of legislation usually is only relevant for the "incumbent" (because the rules usually state "if you have more than x% of the lines .."), i.e. the ex-monopoly provider who didn't build anything. It was build by tax payer money and then given to them.

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by akie on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:41PM (#8219451)

They are still making a significant profit, but not as much as they would without this legislation.

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by martinald on Sunday August 24, 2014 @05:01PM (#8219659)

The article is wrong. It's for fixed line broadband.

Though there are a lot of cell/network sharing agreements in the market (to various extents - some are actually cell roaming but some are just sharing backhaul/fibre/the physical towers):

O2 and Vodafone Orange and TMobile (merged to form EE) Three and TMobile (may or may not include ex-Orange sites, not sure).

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by dozzie on Sunday August 24, 2014 @02:00PM (#8219171)

Yes, pretty much. That's the point of the regulatory required by EU, which UK implemented.

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by abritishguy on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:38PM (#8219437)

Well not really.

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by abritishguy on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:43PM (#8219455)

This isn't true. This is only true for broadband. The article is wrong.

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by nickjackson on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:08PM (#8219353)

giffgaff is a great example of this, a very small company that piggy-backs on the O2 network, giving really cheap tarifs. http://giffgaff.com/goodybags

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by jamesbrownuhh on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:38PM (#8219435)

Giffgaff is an MVNO, that's true, but it is actually owned by O2.

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Re:Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills by abritishguy on Sunday August 24, 2014 @03:41PM (#8219449)

Not mobile networks.

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