As mobile network operators and service providers become increasingly relied upon as a utility service, more tariff transparency may be required to improve customer relations.

We all know the feeling, as our bank balances shrink each month from utility payments. How do we know that we're getting the best deal? Should we make more effort to shop around? It's only inevitable that we begin to mistrust our suppliers, not because we're sure that they are over-charging, but because we have no evidence to the contrary.

Today's medical profession has come to acknowledge the benefits to patients from the placebo effect. We all tend to recover from ailments more quickly when we believe our treatment to be efficacious whether it actually is or is not; mind over matter is the key. One could even put the case that placebo is the driving force behind our voracious desire for consumer brands.

We all tend to convince ourselves of the superiority of the international brand regardless of the reality. After all, we need some justification to put up the dosh – so to speak. We even put up with the acknowledged deficiencies of the top brands as 'in the round' they offer a quality synonymous with the image we wish to present. For top brand manufacturers these market values represent the holy grail, the golden vision, the shangri-la of their marketing mission.