Mobile phone firms to be forced to reduce overseas roaming charges

Using mobile phone abroad to become cheaper under EU laws to allow customers to switch provider for overseas calls Mobile telecommunications firms will be forced to reduce the amount they charge for overseas data roaming to a maximum 80p (90 cents) per megabyte from July 2012, under EU proposals announced today. Customers will also be able to switch to other providers for their overseas roaming, leading to greater competition and potentially even lower charges, according to EU telecoms commissioner Neelie Kroes. Kroes announced that the cap on the cost to consumers of overseas calls and texts, introduced last week , will be lowered in each of the following three years. From July 2012 prices will drop for calls made from phones across Europe to 28p (32 cents) a minute; 25p (28 cents) from July 2013; and 21p (24 cents) from July 2014. But consumer groups have warned that the costs to networks of introducing the first ever cap on data roaming could be passed on to customers through price rises elsewhere. They also argue that the cap should be introduced immediately rather than in a year’s time, and that 90 cents per MB is still too high – though the EU has announced further plans for this to be reduced to 45p (50 cents) per megabyte from July 2014. Monique Goyens, director general of the European Consumers’ Organisation , said: “It’s reassuring that the commission is tackling the market’s structural problems by introducing decoupling of roaming from domestic telecom subscriptions, and at last acting on the increasingly important issue of data roaming. The current cap of 90 cents per MB is a slow start. Consumers should not be ripped off for surfing the net abroad.” At present, mobile data roaming costs vary hugely between provider. O2, for example, charges £3.07 per MB when roaming in Europe and £6 per MB for the rest of the world, whilst Vodafone charges £1 per MB up to 5MB, then £5 for every additional MB after that in Europe. Goyens said the European telecommunications market was currently “a closed shop” and was urgently in need of more competition to force down pricing. Data-roaming bills were automatically limited to €50 per month excluding VAT (unless the customer chose another limit – higher or lower) on 1 July 2010 – but according to the latest EU Barometer survey, only 19% of people who use internet-related services on their mobile phones when abroad think the costs of data-roaming are fair. Brian Boroff from mobile price comparison site Mobilife.com said consumers could see prices for other services rise. “We are glad to see clarity on costs for EU roaming as this has been a huge area of confusion for many years. However, for the mobile operators this move will erode profits for the networks and therefore we may see costs rises elsewhere, such as the recent price hikes we have seen from Orange and Vodafone and a possible rise on phone usage costs outside inclusive allowance of minutes and texts.” Orange and Vodafone have both recently raised the prices on their pay as you go tariffs, but said this was as a result of Ofcom’s recent cap on mobile termination rates , rather than the latest EU announcements. Today’s announcement has no requirement for networks to reduce the cost of data roaming outside of the EU , with costs for downloading data further afield costing consumers $20-30 per MB outside the EU – though consumers can acccess Wi-fi rather than 3G to escape roaming fees. Michael Phillips, product director, Broadbandchoices.co.uk said exorbitant roaming costs apply equally to tablet users “iPads are incredibly useful to take away on holiday but even simple tasks like checking your email can become expensive if you are using your domestic iPad tariff to surf while on holiday abroad,” he said. “iPad roaming costs aren’t necessarily the same as those applied to regular mobile broadband packages, so we strongly urge consumers to check small print, set a usage cap, and use Wi-fi when they can. This can help avoid ‘bill shock’.” He added that consumers should also turn off data roaming when they do not need it, while abroad, though this may not always work. Travellers with iPhones and O2 contracts have recently warned that they have been billed even when turning off data roaming on their phones. Internet, phones & broadband Household bills Mobile phones Smartphones Telecommunications industry Telecoms Consumer affairs Mark King guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 6, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.