30 June saw the long-awaited introduction of the EU regulation on roaming charges for mobile phone users. The ‘Eurotariff’ sets a maximum fee of €0.49 for making calls and €0.24 for receiving calls whilst abroad in Europe. In some cases, this will mean customers paying up to 75 per cent less than their current roaming charges and will allow cross-border communication for citizens travelling within the EU at both reasonable and transparent prices.

Until now, the cost of making and receiving calls while travelling abroad depended largely on the customer’s home and host operators. The home operator is charged a per minute wholesale price by the foreign host operator for each call made or received on their network. The customer is then charged a retail price, the price seen on the phone bill, which is usually much higher. As the European Commission stressed, “neither wholesale nor retail prices for roaming within the EU are justified by the underlying costs of providing the service.”

In addition, it is often difficult for customers to know what the fees are until they receive their phone bill. The new regulation has not only capped the retail prices but will make it possible for customers to receive an SMS whilst abroad, informing them of the various networks available and how much they will be charged for calls. They will also be able to request further information via SMS or voice call, or opt out of the service altogether. Over the next three years, wholesale prices will also be capped, making way for operators to offer lower retail tariffs.

The cross-border nature of international roaming services made it difficult to regulate service charges which is why action was called for on an EU level. However, it will be the responsibility of the national authorities of the individual Member States to supervise compliance with the regulation, monitoring developments in wholesale and retail charges. The new regulation will be reviewed within 18 months and a report made to the European Parliament and Council.

Walueurope
4 July 2007

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