[Hands0n]

One of my currently favourite hobby horses :D

For some time the EU has been trying to be persuasive, but the mobile ops have not listened and some (i.e. O2*see below) have actually increased their roaming charges.

So, in the face of such obstinance the EU are now considering introducing regulatory changes, and no doubt the mobile ops will squeal like the proverbial stuck pigs. Well, they were asked and they dug their heels in, so what on earth did they expect in response? Its taken years, and may take even more before this plays out fully - but surely, if roaming charges come down more people will actually use their handsets when they do roam internationally, and thereby revenue will at worst remain at todays levels, if not increase dramatically.




Mobile operators say competition, not regulation, is the key
Mobile phone users could pay less for making calls from abroad to their country of origin, under proposals put forward by the European Commission.
The Commission said it would draft a law to crack down on "unjustified" high charges for using mobile phones abroad.

The proposals seek to scrap all roaming charges for receiving a call when travelling abroad in the EU.

They also aim to make the cost of calls made abroad the same as those made in the user's country of origin.

User website

Last year, EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding launched an EU website publicising the charges travellers faced making and receiving calls on their mobile phones in other European countries.

MOBILE COSTS ABROAD
Sample tariffs for four-minute peak time call in March 2006. Prices vary according to which UK network and host network are used. Source: European Commission

Calling the UK from Italy: 3.5-5.81 euros (£2.42-£4)
Receiving a call in Italy from the UK: 1.75-5.50 euros (£1.21-£3.80)

Calling the UK from Malta: 3.5-7.34 euros (£2.42-£5.06)
Receiving a call in Malta from the UK: 1.75-5.50 euros (£1.21-£3.80)

Calling France from Germany: 4 euros (£2.76)
Receiving a call in Germany from France: 1.36-1.88 euros (94p-£1.30)

However, the move did little to cut roaming charges, the Commission said, and in some cases, prices increased.

"It is high time that the EU's internal market delivered substantially lower communication charges for consumers and business people travelling abroad," said Ms Reding.

"I therefore propose that an EU regulation be used to eliminate all unjustified roaming charges.

"A mobile phone customer should not be charged a higher tariff just because he is travelling abroad."

The proposed legislation will require the approval of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

Competition 'best solution'

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein bank analyst John Davies said roaming income accounted for 8% to 15% of operators' revenues and usually carried higher margins.

Further roaming regulation is unnecessary and could have unforeseen consequences

Rob Conway, GSM Association [Squeal, Squeal. Ed.]

Mobile phone operators say they have already acted to keep down roaming prices [i.e. O2 increased theirs - reported in todays Daily Mail. Ed.]. They say calls abroad cost more than domestic call charges, because there are additional costs involved in delivering calls through foreign networks.

The EU's proposals came under criticism from mobile operators.

"Since they have not properly represented and defined what the problem is we don't think the solution is a sensible one and will have adverse and unintended consequences," said Richard Feasey, Vodafone director of public policy.

In a statement, T-Mobile said that it should be left to the market to decide mobile phone charges.

The GSM Association, the industry's global trade body, said that roaming charges had fallen by an average of 8% across Europe last year and that legislation was not needed.

"Further roaming regulation is unnecessary and could have unforeseen consequences," said Rob Conway, chief executive of the GSM Association.

"While we believe that competition is the best way to meet the needs of customers across the whole range of mobile services, the GSMA membership will continually explore ways in which further industry action might address particular concerns of customers and other stakeholders."


Source article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4851730.stm



NB: According to the report in today's Daily Mail - O2 have increased their roaming charges by 43% in the last six months. "The cost of a four-minute peaktime call from Italy back to Britain - using a contract phone - had gone up from £2.37 to £.39 with O2" - a good example of how "the market" works, but sadly not in the Customer's favour - we appear just to be the cattle to be milked for all we're worth.

Also in the article "The figures suggest Britons are often charged more than their European counterparts.

For example, a Briton using an Orange pre-pay phone will be charged £4.83 to make a four-minute peak call home from France, Spain or Italy.

In contrast, a French user with an Orange phone would pay £2.76 to make a call home from Spain or Italy. Orange is a French company.

[Hands0n]

A few more links worth reading on the subject .... Interesting perspectives from differing angles, perhaps.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/opinion/Full_Story/did-sgbjFOIQzU1LksgTbBP-2fa91M.asp

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1947528,00.html

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2006/03/29/215092/EuropeanCommissiontoslashmobileroamingcharges.htm

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=11920&email=html

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=177516640&p=y775y7346

And finally ...


Vodafone has probably noticed that roaming revenues grew last year despite the 30pc-45pc price reductions available to its Passport customers.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/03/29/ccom29.xml&sSheet=/money/2006/03/29/ixcoms.html

Which is precisely what the other mobile ops will see if they'll only understand that the only thing stopping us from using our handsets when abroad is because it costs too much for all but the most essential use. Make it substantially cheaper and we'll all use it [collectively] substantially more! Jeez, how complex is that as a concept.

[Hands0n]

Recenly the EU have told the mobile operators that they have had sufficient time to get their house in order regarding rip-off International Roaming (IR)charges. In response at least one UK operator (O2 to name names) has actually had the gall to increase their IR charges to the consumer. This is supposed to be "market forces" in work for the benefit of the consumer. Someone has to explain this very slowly and carefully to me to help me understand how increased charges are of any benefit to me, my family or my friends.

And so, in response to the completely feckless response from the mobile operators the EU now turns up the heat. If you are thinking of travelling within Europe with your mobile phone check out the EU website Using my mobile abroad: are prices dropping? (http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/roaming/index_en.htm) before you go.




This week the European Commission underlined its call for reduced roaming charges from cellular operators across Europe, by launching a website (http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/roaming/index_en.htm) giving details of some of the outrageous charges that are still operating between European operators.

The website launch comes after criticisms from the GSM Association that the EU was out of date, claiming that charges had already changed dramatically reduced.

Instead, the new website shows continued excessive roaming charges with some that have risen during the past year instead of falling, as the GSMA claimed.

The updated website clearly shows that the price for a standard four minute call has generally remained at the same high level across Europe since September 2005 and in some cases has even increased, despite warnings from the commission to the industry that EU-wide regulation would be necessary if prices were not brought down.

The EC Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding recently proposed the introduction of an EU regulation to be fast tracked by next year to eliminate unjustified roaming charges.

"We strongly support Commissioner Reding’s commitment to address this enduring problem”, added Kip Meek, chief policy partner at Ofcom, the UK telecom regulator, who is also president of the European Regulators Group (ERG), the body which brings together the EU’s 25 national telecom regulators and advises the commission.

"The ERG is very committed to working together with commissioner Reding to come up with a practical, proportionate and speedy mechanism for getting retail roaming prices down by a substantial margin."

The updated commission website just a few days ago is available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish and shows that for a four minute call, roaming prices still vary from as little as €0.20 for a Finnish consumer calling home from Sweden, to €13.05 for a four minute call by a Maltese consumer in Latvia. In some cases, roaming prices have even increased over the past six months and one UK operator has just increased the price for roaming from €3.45 to €4.92 when consumers call home across the EU.

The new EU regulation will address wholesale prices based on actual cost to the local operator and ensure that operator savings at the wholesale level are actually passed on to the consumer. And one of the most controversial ideas is that the new regulation may get rid of payments made by the recipient of a call when traveling overseas in the EU.

Another idea under discussion is the "home pricing" principle, whereby a mobile customer traveling abroad in the EU would always be charged only the prices that he is used to paying in his country of residence. Currently, when a call is routed from one overseas visitor to another standing next to him, the payment is based on the call being routed back through his home country, whereas in fact it is routed through just the local base station after an initial look up.

The commission has already held a first phase of consultations on the general idea of an EU regulation on international roaming and will now prepare a new regulation for voting by the European Parliament.

Original article here : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/06/roaming_campaign_gathers_pace/

[Ben]

Mhm, thanks for keeping this thread updated.

I'm not sure if the EU is actually going to make anything happen, but I'm certainly hopeful!

[Hands0n]

I suspect the "cartel" lobbyists are actively working away in the background to get this quashed. I suppose it all depends on how toothy the EU commissioners feel, and whether or not they have enough of a grudge to grind. These ridiculous roaming charges affect us all, private individuals and government/EU politicians alike! One thing I get from recent history is that the EU don't like being snubbed or ignored - and the "cartel" seems to have done that and more of late! With O2 completely pushing their luck - what were they thinking of as a response to the EU pressure?

Hmmm, I really must stop calling the "cartel" a "cartel" ..... "cartels" are strictly illegal in Europe, the are. :D

[Hands0n]

Not a new article, but provides a bit of background to what is currently going on in the EU with regard to putting pressure on the mobile operators to bring in transparency and reduce roaming charges.



Roaming Rip-Offs: Norman Lamb is demanding more transparency from the mobile industry about the true cost of using phones and datacards overseas

An MP has hit out at the UK's mobile operators for charging unfairly high rates when their customers access voice and data services abroad.



Norman Lamb, Liberal MP for North Norfolk, wants to force the operators to be more transparent about their charges, which he believes are unsustainably high.



"They're simply taking advantage of consumer ignorance and lack of knowledge to keep prices up as much as they can," said Lamb. "It demonstrates a market not working… and profiteering with no link to costs."



Earlier this month, ZDNet UK exposed the high prices that are charged when people use 3G datacards abroad. One reader found himself with an £800 bill after downloading less than 100MB of data in France and Germany.



Lamb stopped short of accusing the mobile operators of operating a cartel — a charge that is popular with some disgruntled users who have found themselves with a hefty bill after a trip abroad.



"There potentially needs to be an investigation into why prices are so high. Why is that?" Lamb said. He recently published his own research into the cost of making and receiving mobile calls abroad, in which he also found massive variations in charges for using mobiles abroad, plus a lack of transparency over billing.



While some mobile operators have been reluctant to defend their charges, there have been indications that the situation may improve. Mike Short, chairman of the MDA and vice-president of O2, said last week that prices are likely to drop once the market matures.



Lamb is also concerned that it can be hard for customers to actually discover how much they will be charged for using a mobile phone or datacard overseas.



"You have to search for this information on their Web sites," Lamb said. He added that it would be much better if the text messages sent to users when they arrive in a new country also told them the cost of using that network.



However, legislation to squash mobile rip-offs isn't likely to be introduced anytime soon.



"I am not advocating regulation to control charges, but the regulator could do more to name and shame," explained Lamb, who said he has written to the network operators, Ofcom, the European Union regulators group and the DTI in the hope of forcing the mobile industry to become more transparent.

Article Source: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/3ggprs/0,39020339,39237223,00.htm