Roaming tariffs are going down, honest guv

NOT THAT European mobile network operators are under pressure from the European Union's comms minister, Viviane Reding or anything (see INQ passim), but industry body, the GSM Association, is claiming that roaming charges are dropping like hot potatoes.

It says, "Price cuts announced in the past few weeks alone will benefit more than 94 million roamers and will directly impact two-thirds of European roaming calls."

The problem is that many mobile phone users are unaware that when they answer calls on their GSM mobile phones abroad, they have to pay for part of the call.

What Ms Reding wants to do is change standard mobile industry practice. So, if you use your mobile phone in France and call a French number, it won't cost more that it does to call a UK number if you've got a Brit mobile phone.

However, the Association's Rob Conway says, "The EU's proposals are unworkable and impractical." Worse still operators could be facing a situation where they would offer outbound roaming services at up to 19 per cent below cost, the GSMA says.

Even better, it reckons that domestic prices would have to rise by 7 per cent just so that the "small minority" that make loads of calls when they are abroad don't get penalised.

Part of the problem is that very different business models apply in the various countries across the European Union. So the GSMA says that some operators may lose as much as 20 per cent of their revenues.

Considering that the European mobile phone industry is one which employs loads of people, you'd think the EU might back down on this one. All the signs point to the fact that it won't. µ

See Also:
Operators slam €urocrat's plans to slash pricing