3 UK unveiled a new unlimited tariff that allows it to sidestep what it perceives are extortionate mobile termination rates (MTRs), a Total Telecom report said.
The Total Telecom report also said from 1 November, 3 UK customers will be able to make unlimited calls and send unlimited texts to other 3 UK users for £15 per month.
One gigabyte of data per month is also bundled with the price plan.
However, the operator will still have to pay termination rates on traffic that leaves its network, the report said.
'The only thing we can't include is a shed-load of off-net minutes,' said Kevin Russell, CEO of 3 UK, who also conceded that urging customers to keep all their mobile activities on 3's network 'goes against our fundamental approach to running an open network'.
Russell explained that as the most recent entrant to the U.K. mobile market - therefore with fewer subscribers - a higher proportion of its traffic terminates outside its network, meaning it has to pay out more in termination fees, making it harder to compete on price for voice and text services.
'Over the last five years we have paid over £190 million in mobile termination charges to the other operators,' he said.