In previous weeks, I have been blogging about telcos from an investor's point of view. This week, the focus will be on a consumer's point of view, which actually provides some useful insights into how telcos price their services. Telco charges (inclusive of handphone, mobile data, broadband and fixed line) have been one of the biggest bugbears for my monthly expenses. Part of the reasons is that the combination of lines have been fairly unsatisfactory. I have 2 handphones, 2 mobile data lines, 1 wired broadband and 1 digital home line. The other part of the reasons is that telco charges have been increasing, especially in recent years. The figure below shows the approximate monthly telco expenses since 2004 (using January's figures).