So, in the UK at least, it's relatively expensive to call from one mobile network to another. This has always caused me some angst.
How about a company is created that removes the inter-network section of the communication, thus making the call way cheaper. For the purposes of illustration, below
are some indicative prices:
- Network "O" charges 5p per minute for O to O calls
- Network "V" charges 5p per minute for V to V calls
- Network "O" charges 40p per minute for O to V calls
Someone on network O wants to speak to someone on network V. Instead of calling them directly, they call an O contact number within the intermediary company. This company then requests the network that they're trying to call and the number that they're wanting to reach.
The company has a whole bank of O sim-cards and a bank of V sim-cards. I'm not a techie, but here's the idea:
The call from the O person is routed to an O sim-card in the intermediary. The voice is transferred by wire to a V sim-card (again within the intermediary) which in turn makes a call to the target V phone.
The end result is that there are two intra-network calls going on (at 5p per minute each) as opposed to one inter-network call (at 40p per minute). The intermediary company takes 5p per minute for the service, charging the O user 10p per minute plus their own call rate (5p for themselves and 5p to pay for the V call). The O call is automatically billed to the O user.
I'm not sure how the middle bit would work, but I can't see it being technically impossible. Would be interested to hear people's thoughts on this...