During Sunday’s panel discussion, ‘Examining the MEG Regional Telecoms Pricing Environment and Determining the Right Balance between Regulation and Market Forces’, it emerged that the majority of delegates and attendees do not believe competition means a race to the bottom in terms of prices.

Two thirds of those taking part in the live poll said this was not the case – an attitude supported by the panellists themselves.

Harri Koponen, general manager and CEO of Wataniya Telecom, said, “It used to be that there were only two models – prepaid and postpaid – but that is not enough. You have to give people more choice.”

Ragu Venkataraman, executive vice president of du, added that it is necessary to “Keep pricing simple to understand. The regulator needs to give flexibility to the operators to try different models of pricing on the marketplace.”