Six ways to cut that mobile bill

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Tuesday 6th May 2003.

SMALL and medium sized businesses in Wiltshire are wasting millions of pounds every year on mobile phone charges because they are on the wrong tariff, according to new research.

Based on analysis of 120,000 small and medium sized enterprises (SME's) across the UK, the survey suggests that small businesses in the area are over-spending on mobiles by up to £360 per year, with medium-sized businesses over-spending by up to £3,400 per year.

A recent Oftel report on business use of mobiles showed that 61 per cent of small businesses and 78 per cent of medium-sized businesses now use mobile phones.

However, one in three of the companies questioned for the survey were unaware that they were charged for incoming calls when abroad, and almost a quarter were totally unaware of how much they were actually paying for their mobile phones.

Nick Wood, managing director of The Link , which commissioned the survey, said: "Many business users have been on the same tariff for several years, even though their usage patterns have changed, and more flexible tariffs have been introduced.

"Our research shows that businesses are wasting significant amounts of money on their mobile packages."

Consequently, the high street retailer offers the following tips:

Where possible ensure that all mobiles are on the same network ­ same network calls are substantially cheaper than cross-network calls.

Pool bills to one provider in order to leverage bulk discounts.

Shop around for tariffs, and review these once a year when the contract ends.

Read your bills ­ look at your usage patterns to find out where savings can be made.

Use your inclusive minutes ­ if you aren't using them you are paying for something which you aren't fully using.

Monitor private calls to prevent abuse by staff.

Rick Hopkins, South West spokesman for the Forum of Private Business agreed that mobile phones were costing small businesses a fortune.

He said: "It's all a question of time and money. Small business owners in this region just don,t have the time to seek out which tariffs might be best for them.

"And there seems to be a deficiency of good information on the subject anyway.

"It takes a lot of time and effort to look around for the best deals, and if you're a small business owner, you just don't have that luxury."

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