European parliament welcomes EU plans to cut cost of roaming

MEPs have greeted plans by the commission to cap voice roaming charges as 'great news' for consumers.

On Tuesday, the commission unveiled plans that would force mobile operators to reduce the roaming charges paid by customers who send cross-border text messages inside the EU.

Announcing the plans Viviane Reding, EU telecoms commissioner, blasted mobile operators, saying: “It is high time that consumers can experience the results of this single EU market in the telecoms field. Roaming charges must be justified . . . or they will disappear.”

Last year the commission and parliament successfully slashed the costs operators can charge for roaming mobile calls to other EU countries, and the latest plans extend this to mobile text messages and internet browsing.

MEP reaction to the plans was swift, with Scottish Nationalist deputy Alyn Smith hailing the proposals, which will reduce the price of roaming text messages by 60 per cent from 1 July 2009, as “great news” for holidaymakers.

“Text messaging is big business in Europe with 2.5 billion texts being sent in 2007 which equates to €800m. Mobile phone operators have a right to make a profit, of course, but as technology moves on I am not convinced that all the benefits that can be passed on to the consumer actually have been.

"I look forward to these measures being implemented next year, especially in time for the summer holidays.”

Fiona Hall, Liberal Democrat industry spokesman, said: "The arrogance of the mobile phone operators is galling. As in 2006 when they were warned about the cost of roaming voice calls and failed to bring the charges down, they have once again been forced to slash the cost of using a mobile abroad, this time with text and data charges.

 "For UK consumers, the cost of sending a text message when abroad often is as high as 41p per text. Compared with just 4p with a Latvian mobile phone user.This is scandalous.

“Yesterday’s announcement means that UK operators will not be able to charge no more than 9p for a text message sent whilst aboard. When one factors in that the actual cost to the operator is less than 1p it is hard to feel any sympathy with the industry. Once again, action at EU level has greatly benefited the consumer.”

UK Conservatives expressed “regret” that the success of the EU's cap on voice roaming charges has not also encouraged the industry to bring down prices on data and text message roaming.

Giles Chichester, Tory industry spokesman in parliament, said, “We had hoped the previous price cap would make the industry see the light and take action to avoid further intervention from the EU. More regulation in this field should be the last resort, and the commission must make the case for the necessity of extending the limit. 

 "Before the voice roaming cap came into effect, too many consumers were suffering from nasty surprises when they returned home from a holiday. Now too many people are receiving a shock if they access data abroad, and these prices must be brought down.

 "Ideally we would like the industry to act itself to cut prices, but if it fails, the EU should be prepared to act in the interests of consumers."

Meanwhile, leading mobile phone operators are expected to clash with the commission over its plans to also cut the cost of web surfing on handsets while abroad.

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