By Martin Banks - 30th June 2009
Common sense has prevailed
Malcolm Harbour
This is very good news for competition and the consumers
Adina Valean
The European commission has reached an agreement with mobile phone manufacturers to introduce a single charger from next year.
Ten major mobile phone producers have voluntarily agreed to create a common charger.
They are Apple, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, NEC, Research in Motion, Samsung and LG.
The announcement was welcomed by UK Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour, his party's consumer spokesman, who said, "The days of drawers full of useless old mobile phone chargers will soon be over. Common sense has prevailed.
"This is a simple agreement that will have an extremely positive impact on users' lives. We will no longer have to worry about forgetting our chargers and having to ask around to find one that is compatible.
"This agreement will also encourage more chargers to be recycled, preventing electronic waste. Mobile phone companies should consider whether a new charger is now needed with every handset if there is a possibility that an old one can be recycled.
"It is particularly welcome that the commission was able to reach agreement with the industry, without introducing new regulation."
Meanwhile, new EU-wide roaming charges will enter into force from tomorrow. Sending a text message from abroad will now cost 11 cents compared to 80 cents at present.
Making and receiving a call abroad is also reduced to 43 cents and 19 cents per minute respectively.
Monique Goyens, director general of BEUC, the European Consumers' Organisation, said, "We welcome the fact that the price of SMS and phone calls made or received when in another member state will be cheaper this summer.
"However, if data roaming prices are not significantly reduced by the operators, more guarantees will have to be given to consumers in the future."
ALDE deputy Adina Valean, who steered the negotiations for the European parliament on the so called 'Roaming 2' regulation said, "I welcome the fact that some operators have reduced roaming tariffs even before the entry into force of this regulation, while some are proposing summer offers for their roaming customers."
"This is very good news for competition and the consumers. The cost of making and receiving calls, sending text or MMS messages and surfing the internet have decreased in recent years, but there is room for more"
However Valean brought attention to the fact that operators had set the majority of their tariffs at the upper limit set by the regulation.
"This is one aspect that the commission will be monitoring closely when it does its review of the functioning of the regulation. In three years time we should move towards a regulation of roaming services that aims at long term low, competitive prices."
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