Mobile operators told to cut SMS roaming charges[fr][de] 

Reding launched her ultimatum on 11 February before CEOs from the mobile phone industry gathered at the Mobile World Congress  in Barcelona. 

"What I am asking for are credible, but also do-able, price reductions for data roaming by the whole industry on a voluntary basis by 1 July," said  the EU's telecoms chief. Reding added that she had "no appetite at all for regulation again," but that she will be forced to proceed if no significant changes occur by that date.

The Commission reckons that a text message sent abroad can cost up to 20 times more than one sent at home. On average, sending a text message costs between €5 and €10 cents within an EU member state, but users can be charged over €50 cents if they send a text from another EU country. For downloading data, the costs are at least four to six times higher than equivalent domestic rates.

"The EU cannot accept that mobile operators make up to 20 times more profits on roaming than on their domestic customers," Reding said, using data collected by the European Regulators Group (ERG) published in January. To remedy this, the Commissioner suggested the "voluntary" introduction of EU roaming packages "that allow consumers to download data throughout the 27 EU countries at the same price as domestically, subject only to a single competitive additional charge".

According to Commissioner Reding, the extra charges imposed on roaming are not justified by additional costs to operators, and are therefore seen as "exploitation" of consumers. Reding openly said she would accept extra charges for text messages sent abroad of up to €2 or €3 cents, and wholesale rates of €25 or €50 cents per megabyte downloaded. These numbers "indicate the level at which the Commission could consider pitching regulation if the market does not follow these recent moves," she pointed out.

In her speech, Reding underlined that the Commission has to act in this field because "national regulators are unable to address these issues unilaterally". Against these shortfalls, Reding repeated the necessity of a European Telecom Market Authority to replace ERG, as suggested in the Telecoms package proposed in November (see our Links Dossier).

Mobile phone companies, represented by the GSM Association (GSMA), warned against introducing regulation on data roaming, saying it could stifle innovation in the sector. "We don't feel that price regulation is beneficial," said Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer at the GSMA, pointing out that while voice roaming is "a competitive market", data roaming "is clearly at a different stage of its development".

"This market is evolving rapidly as operators develop new and innovative services and tariff packages, including flat-rate pricing packages and bundles. In such a period of rapid growth and innovation, the GSMA believes that talk of regulation is premature."