Tag: mobile

The EU needs to tackle discrepancies between the proposed Data Protection Regulation and the 2002 ePrivacy Directive because they could create inconsistent privacy experiences and rights for consumers, say trade organisations representing the mobile and ICT sectors.

A universal charger for phones that can be connected to a computer is expected to reach European consumers in the coming weeks, as new harmonised standards are now available for major mobile phone producers, the European Commission has announced.

Europe's major mobile phone manufacturers have agreed to adopt a universal charger for handsets sold in the EU from 2010. The deal is expected to please consumers and reduce pollution, but is limited to data-enabled handsets, which at the moment represent only a quarter of the market.

Using a mobile phone to send text messages or surf the Web by laptop will become up to 60 percent cheaper while travelling in the European Union under price curbs adopted by the European Parliament yesterday (22 April).

Despite opposition from a majority of EU member states, Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding is set to move forward with plans to significantly cut the revenues of mobile telecoms operators by February 2012, EurActiv has learned.

The European Commission is set to ask national telecoms authorities to slash the wholesale fees operators charge one another for mobile calls or text messages (SMS) as a means of supporting investment in optical fibre networks, which underpin the high-speed Internet.

More relevant search, targeted advertising and attention to privacy: this is how Yahoo! intends to become the leader in the growing mobile Internet services market. Geraldine Wilson, vice president of Yahoo! Europe's Connected Life division, spoke to EurActiv in an exclusive interview ahead of the FT Business of Mobile Conference.

Swift EU-wide deployment of mobile TV services is a step closer to reality after the Council endorsed a Commission package designed to help increase their take-up by European consumers.

Mobile phone operators could easily afford to lower roaming charges to less than what the Commission is asking for, but are engaged in large-scale collusion to keep prices up, according to BEUC, Europe’s consumer watchdog.

Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding is being pressed by fellow commissioners to water down her proposal to regulate the fees mobile phone users have to pay when placing or receiving a call abroad.

The EU Commission's DG Information Society has started a consultation on bringing down the costs for international roaming, which are incurred when using a mobile phone in a different EU country.

Spain's incumbent telecom operator Telefónica is the last remaining bidder to buy the UK-based O2 mobile phone company. A deal would consolidate Telefónica's position as the most expansive player on the EU's telecom market.

A long-term study has partially cleared cell phones of suspicions that they may cause cancer, putting a question mark against the idea that more EU regulation is needed in this area.

The Commission plans to launch, on June 1, 2005, what Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and the Media, has branded as “the first-ever Lisbon Strategy realistic action plan”. The plan, labelled “i2010”, sets out to boost at the same time the information and communication technology (ICT) and content industries, as well as the industry take-up of innovation.

On 12 February 2003, the Parliament adopted its own-initiative report on the full roll-out of third-generation mobile communications (3G).

On 9 December, the Commission launched a public consultation on open platforms in digital TV and 3G.