Tag: roaming

The European Parliament yesterday (28 February) gave its first green light to the roaming overhaul, reducing the price caps on cross-border mobile telephone services.

The European Commission is studying new measures to bring down the price of cross-border calls, including the possibility of introducing ceilings on data roaming, EurActiv has learned.

Making a mobile phone call across European borders becomes cheaper as of today (1 July) with the entry into force of the EU's new roaming regulation. Data and text messaging are also covered by the new rules on roaming, which telecoms operators decried for being driven by a short-term political agenda.

Prices of mobile phone calls made between EU countries will be further lowered as of July this year, according to an agreement sealed yesterday (24 March) over the EU's so-called 'roaming regulation'. As part of the deal, however, telecoms companies will still be able to subject users to an initial charging period of 30 seconds, which should enable operators to maintain some revenue.

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.

Text messages sent abroad will cost around 70% less by summer 2009, according to plans EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding will outline today. But the move was labelled "populist" by mobile telecoms operators, EurActiv has learned.

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.

The Commission's controversial roaming regulation – which could bring down mobile roaming charges by up to 70% – is set to come into force on 1 August. 

Holidaymakers could see their mobile-phone bills decrease this summer if MEPs back a compromise on the disputed roaming regulation in a plenary vote to be held today (23 May).

The Commission's objective of cutting mobile roaming charges by the summer holidays may not be met as the Parliament and the Council failed to agree on the level of cuts or the speed of the new prices' implementation.

A key committee in the Parliament backed a proposal, on 12 April, to slash costs for mobile phone customers using their handsets in other EU countries and to make the cheaper rates apply automatically to all users.

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.

Ministers from a majority of member states suggested watering down a Commission proposal to force lower prices on cross-boarder phone calls.

In the latest development in antitrust cases against mobile operators for alleged illegal price-rigging on the international roaming market, O2 has appealed to the European Ombudsman.

Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding is set to present a draft Regulation on bringing down the prices for placing and receiving mobile phone calls in a country other than the one where a phone is registered.

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.

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.

The Commission has opened a web page providing information on the charges mobile phone users have to pay when calling or being called between one EU country and another.

The Commission has launched an investigation into the prices two German mobile operators charge to foreign phone companies when their customers make calls in Germany.

During a speech on 'European Competition Day', Commissioner Mario Monti stated he was working on "competition cases involving abusive practices by incumbent telecom operators". He added that pricing issues in the mobile market was also a priority.