If Scotland votes to separate from the U.K. next week, mobile-phone customers may face higher charges for service and for roaming fees outside their new borders.
Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), EE,Telefonica SA’s (TEF) O2 and other carriers
operating in the U.K. will have to review everything from plan prices to regulatory changes if Scotland wins independence, Enders Analysis analyst James Barford said in an interview.
While Scotland is relatively sparsely populated, making it more expensive to build and maintain networks, carriers tend to charge subscribers the same prices found in the rest of the country, creating a subsidy, Barford said. That will evaporate if Scotland goes it alone.
“Somebody sitting in Dundee pays the same as someone in London, and Scotland is less densely populated than the U.K.,” he said. After independence, “there’s no reason to charge the same amount in Scotland and the rest of the U.K., so either service levels would deteriorate or the prices would go up.”
First Minister Alex Salmond said he expected to negotiate on the terms of Scotland’s continuing European Union membership after independence. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a February interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. that it would be difficult for Scotland to gain swift EU entry. The country’s mobile customers currently have the protection of caps that the EU has placed on roaming.
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