Key committee backs global roaming charge cap

AN IMPORTANT committee of the European Parliament has backed a plan that will cap mobile telcos fees for global roaming at 40 euro cents a minute for an outgoing call and 15 euro cents per minute for an incoming call.

The EU assembly's industry committee backed the plan in a bid to end the telcos' extortion of customers who make the grave mistake of not making a call in their own country. The move will in some cases force the cost of global roaming by 70 per cent.

The full 785-seat EU assembly will vote on the proposal in May. EU governments want to decide on the plan in June.

The only way the telecommunications companies can get away with charging an arm a leg when you cross the border is by making you sign a contract where they promise you a reduction on your local fees and require you to mortgage your house when you phone home on holiday.

Some legislators are against the plan because they see it as an unnecessary regulation. After all those nice telecommunications companies pay a lot of money into campaign coffers and EU lawmakers are sure they are not shafting customers.

The European Commission says operators make billions of euros (US dollars) on charges that are unjustifiably higher than fees charged within a user's home country for using another network.

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