Reduce the cost of text messaging and mobile data services abroad
(From the EU Information Society website)
Mobile phone users can expect that from next summer sending text messages from abroad within the EU will be much cheaper. The European Commission has today proposed to reduce the cost of roaming text messages by 60% from 1 July 2009. EU citizens traveling to other Community countries will not pay more than 11 Euros per SMS versus 29 Euros, which is the current average in the EU. The Commission also wants to improve transparency regarding Web browsing and downloading data on a mobile phone from abroad: consumers who are more familiar with cheaper data services in their own country should be better protected than roaming billboards which may amount to thousands of euros. Proposals are to be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council, which must agree that the proposals will have the force of law. Already in the summer of 2007, the EU lowered its charges for making and receiving calls abroad (voice roaming) by 60%.
"Europe has made mobile telephony attractive all over the world thanks to its own GSM model. It must now prove that there is a genuine single telecommunications market where consumers can use their mobile phone in all 27 EU countries without being penalized by border crossings, "said José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission Commission. "If this is achieved soon, we will have a huge increase in SMS and data services, and it will be reported that the reduction in fees may be beneficial to everyone."
Ms Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Telecommunications, said: "The use of a mobile phone abroad within the EU should not be unnecessarily more expensive than domestic calls, telephone calls or text messaging or navigating the Web. 37 million European tourists and 110 million business travelers wait for the promise of the single market without frontiers to have a positive impact on their accounts at last. "
Consumer Affairs Commissioner Ms. Kuneva said: "If Europe wants to achieve concrete results for the benefit of its 500 million consumers, then it should no longer tolerate practices where operators charge for services which they do not provide. Consumers are overcharged on average at a rate of 24% for mobile calls made from abroad, as roaming calls are very often charged per minute rather than per second. One of our priorities is fair treatment of consumers when crossing borders and for this reason the Commission has today decided to introduce the principle of per second billing for all roaming calls. "
Text messages are generally popular among EU citizens who in 2007 sent 2.5 billion SMS worth 800 million. Especially the new generation communicates with SMS: 38% of people aged 15-24 communicate exclusively with messages when they are abroad. However, the cost of text roaming may be ten times higher than the domestic one, up to EUR 0.75 per SMS, in the case of travelers from Belgium. A typical French roaming customer who sent a text message this summer from Italy could pay up to EUR 0.30 while a Czech tourist would pay up to EUR 0.42 (10.00 CZK). In Spain, a Swedish tourist could pay up to EUR 0.40 (SEK 3.79) per roaming message, a German EUR 0.32, a Polish EUR 0.47 (ZL 1.50) a tourist from the UK 0.63 euros (£ 0.40) and one Latvian up to € 0.70 (LVL 0.49) per SMS. For this reason, the Commission proposes a maximum retail limit of EUR 0.11 for text message roaming (excluding VAT) and EUR 0.04 for wholesale roaming. Wholesale prices are charged among operators so customers can send messages through their networks. Operators are required to compete with prices below these ceilings, which are defined by the Commission following a detailed impact assessment based on data available to it by the European Regulators Group (ERG). EUR 11 for text message roaming (excluding VAT) and EUR 0.04 for wholesale. Wholesale prices are charged among operators so customers can send messages through their networks. Operators are required to compete with prices below these ceilings, which are defined by the Commission following a detailed impact assessment based on data available to it by the European Regulators Group (ERG). EUR 11 for text message roaming (excluding VAT) and EUR 0.04 for wholesale. Wholesale prices are charged among operators so customers can send messages through their networks. Operators are required to compete with prices below these ceilings, which are defined by the Commission following a detailed impact assessment based on data available to it by the European Regulators Group (ERG).
Roaming customers should also receive an automatic message with the data roaming charges in the country where they have migrated. Since the summer of 2010, it is expected that consumers will be able to determine in advance the amount of their roaming data before the service is discontinued - a measure aimed at putting an end to the "inflated accounts". This is because there have been
Mobile phone users can expect that from next summer sending text messages from abroad within the EU will be much cheaper. The European Commission has today proposed to reduce the cost of roaming text messages by 60% from 1 July 2009. EU citizens traveling to other Community countries will not pay more than 11 Euros per SMS versus 29 Euros, which is the current average in the EU. The Commission also wants to improve transparency regarding Web browsing and downloading data on a mobile phone from abroad: consumers who are more familiar with cheaper data services in their own country should be better protected than roaming billboards which may amount to thousands of euros. Proposals are to be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council, which must agree that the proposals will have the force of law. Already in the summer of 2007, the EU lowered its charges for making and receiving calls abroad (voice roaming) by 60%.
"Europe has made mobile telephony attractive all over the world thanks to its own GSM model. It must now prove that there is a genuine single telecommunications market where consumers can use their mobile phone in all 27 EU countries without being penalized by border crossings, "said José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission Commission. "If this is achieved soon, we will have a huge increase in SMS and data services, and it will be reported that the reduction in fees may be beneficial to everyone."
Ms Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Telecommunications, said: "The use of a mobile phone abroad within the EU should not be unnecessarily more expensive than domestic calls, telephone calls or text messaging or navigating the Web. 37 million European tourists and 110 million business travelers wait for the promise of the single market without frontiers to have a positive impact on their accounts at last. "
Consumer Affairs Commissioner Ms. Kuneva said: "If Europe wants to achieve concrete results for the benefit of its 500 million consumers, then it should no longer tolerate practices where operators charge for services which they do not provide. Consumers are overcharged on average at a rate of 24% for mobile calls made from abroad, as roaming calls are very often charged per minute rather than per second. One of our priorities is fair treatment of consumers when crossing borders and for this reason the Commission has today decided to introduce the principle of per second billing for all roaming calls. "
Text messages are generally popular among EU citizens who in 2007 sent 2.5 billion SMS worth 800 million. Especially the new generation communicates with SMS: 38% of people aged 15-24 communicate exclusively with messages when they are abroad. However, the cost of text roaming may be ten times higher than the domestic one, up to EUR 0.75 per SMS, in the case of travelers from Belgium. A typical French roaming customer who sent a text message this summer from Italy could pay up to EUR 0.30 while a Czech tourist would pay up to EUR 0.42 (10.00 CZK). In Spain, a Swedish tourist could pay up to EUR 0.40 (SEK 3.79) per roaming message, a German EUR 0.32, a Polish EUR 0.47 (ZL 1.50) a tourist from the UK 0.63 euros (£ 0.40) and one Latvian up to € 0.70 (LVL 0.49) per SMS. For this reason, the Commission proposes a maximum retail limit of EUR 0.11 for text message roaming (excluding VAT) and EUR 0.04 for wholesale roaming. Wholesale prices are charged among operators so customers can send messages through their networks. Operators are required to compete with prices below these ceilings, which are defined by the Commission following a detailed impact assessment based on data available to it by the European Regulators Group (ERG). EUR 11 for text message roaming (excluding VAT) and EUR 0.04 for wholesale. Wholesale prices are charged among operators so customers can send messages through their networks. Operators are required to compete with prices below these ceilings, which are defined by the Commission following a detailed impact assessment based on data available to it by the European Regulators Group (ERG). EUR 11 for text message roaming (excluding VAT) and EUR 0.04 for wholesale. Wholesale prices are charged among operators so customers can send messages through their networks. Operators are required to compete with prices below these ceilings, which are defined by the Commission following a detailed impact assessment based on data available to it by the European Regulators Group (ERG).
Roaming customers should also receive an automatic message with the data roaming charges in the country where they have migrated. Since the summer of 2010, it is expected that consumers will be able to determine in advance the amount of their roaming data before the service is discontinued - a measure aimed at putting an end to the "inflated accounts". This is because there have been
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