Tag: mobile telecoms

Despite Europe´s huge broadband coverage and smartphone use compared to the developing world, the continent is lagging in eHealth solutions because costing models do not encourage innovation, the leading global telecoms conference heard yesterday (27 February).

Smartphone security is not what it ought to be as popular apps are increasingly targeted by cyber attackers, according to a report by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).

The European Commission will resume its fight against mobile phone prices this week by proposing to cap voice, SMS and data roaming at levels similar to national tariffs by 2014. The move is expected to virtually end the price gap between national and cross-border mobile services, according to the proposals, obtained by EurActiv.

Bulgarian consumers, the poorest in the EU, often carry several mobile phones with subscriptions to different providers because their country has the highest interconnection fees in Europe for making calls from one network operator to another, a European Commission paper reveals.

The European Commission yesterday (7 May) adopted a long-awaited recommendation on mobile termination rates, pushing back the deadline to reduce these wholesale charges across the EU to the end of 2012. Brussels reckons the measure will indirectly lower prices for consumers.

Mobile phone companies have until the end of April to voluntarily standardise chargers or face new legislation to allow consumers to use the same charging device should they swap phones, the European Commission said yesterday (25 March).

As the Bulgarian telecoms regulator drags its feet on bringing down mobile telephone rates, Brussels is preparing legislation that will require all national regulators to make mobile prices reflect costs better, a European Commission spokesperson told EurActiv.

As smartphones become more affordable and their use spreads across Europe, citizens surfing the Internet on their mobile handsets abroad are at increased risk of unexpected rocketing phone bills, warns European consumer organisation BEUC.

The Commission has warned it could take legal action against European websites selling mobile phone services such as ringtones and wallpapers after an investigation carried out in June revealed that the vast majority are in breach of EU rules and deliberately mislead their customers.

Using a mobile phone to make direct payments could become the norm in Europe following cooperation announced between the GSM Association (GSMA), which brings together the world's major mobile operators, and the European Payment Council (EPC), the body representing the EU banking sector.

The European Commission will announce in the coming days a plan aimed at cutting by 70% in three years the wholesale charges imposed by mobile operators to manage phone calls received from other companies, so-called 'mobile termination rates'. The move is expected to have a major impact on mobile operators' revenues.

EU telecom operators said they will not comply with the Commission's 1 July deadline to lower the prices of mobile data services across borders, such as text messaging and Internet surfing, labelling the proposed price caps "absurd".

With the difference between billed minutes and actual time spent on roaming phone calls typically around 20%, EU authorities have requested telecoms operators to provide the actual average charged, a move that may bring about further regulatory action.

Apple's commercial practice of making its popular iPhone available exclusively to selected mobile operators could be considered unfair and therefore not binding on consumers, said EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

The European Commission has proposed a procedure for member states to select companies wishing to provide services to cellphones using satellites, in what it describes as a "beauty contest, not an auction".

Holidaymakers should see their mobile-phone bills reduced this summer after Parliament backed a compromise reached with member states on the disputed roaming regulation but operators said the move was driven by a "populist agenda".

EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has threatened to impose a common standard for broadcasting television on mobile phone screens if industry continues to bicker over which one to use, causing it to lag behind world-leader Korea.

The Commission proposes to cap the charges that operators impose on each other for using their network in an attempt at cutting down the price of using mobile phones abroad. Consumers could see their 'roaming' bill cut by up to 70%.

A number of European mobile phone operators, including some of the industry's biggest players, have agreed to lower the costs for placing and receiving mobile phone calls abroad by 50 percent.

Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has predicted that television on mobile devices will be the next big thing in consumer electronics.

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.

Industry organizations push debate on health risks and mobile phone use in a conference with MEPs.