BBC Radio 4’s You and yours, a supposed “consumer interest” program, just had the most tenuously consumer-related item.  They had a mobile phone industry representative on, complaining that when they sell handsets at highly subsidised prices, people buy them, then sell them on the global market at what is still a good price, but also represents a profit.

Does this drive up prices in the UK?

Uh, well, no, because the UK’s highly competitive.  But it does remove value from the market that could be passed on to the consumer.

In other words, some of the money that mobile phone companies would be ripping off the consumer (he said could be passed on, not would be) is being ripped off them by some enterprising consumers.

What measures can they take to prevent this getting out of hand?

They can limit the number of handsets that can be purchased in one transaction, and also limit the rate at which handsets can be bought with a given credit card.  Oh and they sim-lock phones so that the consumer is unable to change networks without buying another phone.

It doesn’t sound to me like the “box breakers” are the problem for the consumer, but rather the phone companies.

How the BBC cares to justify this as “consumer interest” I don’t want to know, in case it gets me so mad that I go out and find the first person in one of those shirts that are stripy but with a white collar, and strangle them with their tie.