Alan Summerfield wrote:
> AnthonyL wrote:
>> On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:15:42 -0600, Dennis Ferguson
>> <dcferguson@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> None of this was my point, however. My point was that I don't believe
>>> national roaming reduces competition between operators at all. It
>>> certainly
>>> doesn't in the USA. You don't make money where you don't have towers
>>> with or without national roaming, so the incentive to expand coverage
>>> exists independent of that. It's just that with national roaming, in
>>> areas you haven't got around to yet or which have too few people to
>>> support more than the carriers already present, your customers still
>>> get service. Without it, your customers are out of luck.
>>>
>>
>> And I imagine there would be a relatively good take up in the UK
>> especially for those in remote or poor coverage areas (either living
>> or travelling) with the first operator that offered a UK roaming
>> scheme.
>
> Here in Germany, O2 has been using on the T-Mobile network where O2
> doesn't yet reach. O2, at the time they started (1999?), had very little
> network infrastructure outside larger towns so O2 customers often had
> the choice between 2 networks in built-up areas. This was the "feature"
> that persuaded me to get my PAYG SIM from O2. 8 years later I'm still
> using the same SIM.
>
> Alan

Interesting update on this issue -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/art...008175,00.html

Looks like the networks are starting to see some sense too!

Alan