Euro-Mobiles May Finally Receive Roaming Relief

It's about time ...

David Rennie of London's Daily Telegraph reports from Brussels that momentum is growing to force mobile phone service providers to bring their exorbitant roaming fees into line:

The European Commission unveiled plans yesterday to slash the "exorbitant" cost of using mobile phones abroad by up to 70 per cent. The announcement set the stage for a battle with the mobile phone industry.

Telephone operators across Europe currently levied "roaming" charges that were up to five times the true cost of connecting customers when they travelled outside their home countries, said José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president.

Telephone firms would have six months to cut their prices voluntarily before the commission used its powers to impose price caps, he said in Brussels. "There is still a chance for them to show that they are serious about self-regulation."

At present, British travellers using UK mobiles abroad face huge variations in prices. A four-minute call home on a UK phone used in France typically costs £2.38. The same call from Malta costs £4.83, according to commission statistics. Making local calls while overseas can cost up to 18 times as much as making a local call while at home.

Even receiving calls from home can prove expensive. The average British mobile phone user currently pays a charge of 43p a minute to receive calls while overseas.

The commission is now threatening to impose mandatory ceilings on roaming charges. The price caps are designed to reduce operators' profit margins on calls placed overseas to 30 per cent - a move that the commission said would save European consumers £3.7 billion a year.

The proposal is the latest in a series of consumer-friendly initiatives designed to persuade sceptical European voters that the European Union project can "add value" to their lives.

Mr Barroso said the plan was part of a grander scheme to show citizens a "Europe of results", driven by the interests of ordinary people. "For this commission, the single market is first and foremost for consumers, like you and me," he said.

The plan must first win approval from EU national governments and the European Parliament. That process is likely to take two or three years, though the commission said it hoped to push the plans through in time for the 2007 summer holiday season.

Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner, said: "Consumers should be aware that roaming will remain an expensive experience when they are going on holiday this summer." For too long, unwary tourists had risked paying as much for their phone calls abroad as they did for their holidays, she added.

If the new proposals are applied, the maximum price for calling home from abroad would fall to about 35p a minute, and the retail cost of receiving a mobile phone call when travelling elsewhere in the EU would be capped at about 11.5p a minute.

Britain, France and Germany all have large mobile phone industries, and can be expected to amend the commission proposal. Operators have predicted that costs may simply be passed on to domestic customers. But Mrs Reding said competition in most national markets was too fierce for mobile phone firms to risk raising their rates.

In a foretaste of political battles to come, the plan unveiled yesterday had been watered down within the European Commission after strong opposition from commissioners including Peter Mandelson, who called a first draft heavy-handed. A first plan called for eliminating overseas charges, and imposing a single charging scheme across the EU.

Industry lobbying is still expected to be fierce. Operators currently earn six per cent of their revenues from roaming charges, which are worth nearly £6 billion a year.