Even though network operators promote new billing models for mobile data, such as flat rates, prices are still high.
The use of contracting as a 'soft' tool for regulation by introducing financing mechanisms such as flat rates and financial ceilings was meant to overcome the prevalent practice of supplier-induced demand in the absence of legislation to allow control of supply.
Some excesses have been abolished, such as flat-rate travel expenses often worth five times the actual cost of an air ticket.
When it comes to visits and procedures, there are two ways health insurers set up cost sharing: as a flat rate copay, or as a percentage called coinsurance.
In parallel, operator revenues keep decreasing as a result of flat rate subscriptions.
You only have to experience a Skype video call once to want FaceTime to work over 3G, and Skype is softening up the carriers just as they move off flat rate to a profit center for streaming.
Raise £2bn over the forecast period, £630m from targeting schemes such as the flat rate VAT scheme and use of employee shareholder status.
"Thirty pounds a week as a flat rate for people who are means tested: that doesn't take into account how many siblings or dependents your family might have, it stops after you turn 19 and is taken over by an adult learner grant that is even less funded… I don't really want to ask for a return to EMA.
"I was super happy with it as a flat rate – the voicemails I could do really quickly and wouldn't require much editing … and with the mystery shopping I had to go to dinner and got a discount on my meal," she says.
On capital gains tax The current CGT regime for individuals was introduced by Labour from April 2008 as a flat rate of 18%, applied to all gains over and above the annual exemption, regardless of the size of the gain or the wealth or income of the taxpayer.
Well Om Malik is reporting on GigaOm that the $15 per month charged as a flat rate by Vodafone only gets you 120 MB, and additional data usage costs $4 per megabyte.
