Brussels, 15/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - A new Eurobarometer report published by the European Commission reveals that, despite the price falls after the 2006 regulation, almost three quarters of Europeans are worried about the cost of using their mobile phone when travelling abroad and limit their roaming calls as a consequence. The Commission will use the findings of the survey and the public consultation on roaming, which closed on 11 February, in deciding whether to extend the current rules in its review, which is due by June of this year. “Consumers feel there is still much room for improvement, particularly for data roaming. As I promised in the Digital Agenda for Europe, I intend to ensure better roaming solutions for European citizens and businesses”, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. The main findings of the Eurobarometer survey are as follows:
More roaming - more people are using their mobiles while travelling in the EU than four years ago, when the EU first introduced roaming rules: despite an estimated 13% fall in travel between 2006 and 2010, the overall volume of calls received and SMS sent while abroad in the EU has grown during that period. Travellers report making 32% more calls, receiving 31% more calls and texting 43% more since 2006.
Habits vary - men are more likely to make voice calls (57%), while more women prefer to send text messages (56%). 88% of Cypriots mostly use voice services compared with only 44% of British travellers. 81% of Irish mobile users roaming in the EU favour text messages and only 24% of Portuguese. 32% of Bulgarians do not use their mobile phones abroad at all. Young people are now significantly more likely to use roaming services compared to 2006 figures (making voice calls: up 43%; receiving calls: up 42% and sending text messages: up 51%).
Concerns remain over costs - 61% of frequent travellers are aware that roaming prices have decreased since 2006. However, (1) around 1 in 5 mobile users have cut down their use of roaming services because of their perception of the cost; (2) 72% of mobile users continue to limit their mobile voice calls while abroad because they are worried about the costs; (3) 81% of Swedes, 72% of Italians and 57% of Greeks are using roaming voice services less because they are worried about costs. For data roaming services, (1) 17% of Lithuanians and 15% of Spanish say that data roaming is the service they use most while abroad whilst only 2% of Hungarians and 4% of Germans use this the most; (2) young people are more likely to use data roaming (15% of 15-24 years old prefer to surf on their mobile abroad compared to 6% of people over 55); (3) only 19% of respondents say that the cost of data roaming services is fair.
Roaming prices were first capped in July 2007. In July 2009, revised rules were introduced which cut roaming to 35 cents per minute for calls made and 11 cents for calls received while abroad. From July 2010 travellers' data-roaming limit was automatically set at €50 excluding VAT (except on the express request by the user - higher or lower) and operators had to send users a warning when they reached 80% of their data-roaming bill limit. These rules will apply until the end of June 2012. The Commission will produce a full review of the functioning of the EU roaming rules by 30 June 2011 and will assess the extent to which the objectives of the rules have been reached and whether competition is working for roaming services. If one reads between the lines of the comments by Commissioner Kroes, speaking at the 2011 World Mobile Congress in Barcelona on 14 February, it is unlikely that the regulation will be abolished. Most stakeholders believe that competition is not yet sufficiently strong; they advocate further intervention after 2012, she said. This, she went on, though disappointing, is not surprising, given the findings of the Commission's interim report published in June 2010 which revealed that voice roaming charges in Europe are still three times higher than domestic charges. The situation for data roaming is even more alarming, with prices more than 50 times higher for downloading data abroad compared with at home. While accepting that wholesale data roaming charges have fallen, the commissioner says this is not being reflected in retail prices. “While you know I would prefer to simply rely on competition to ensure that the market operates, rather than engage in further regulation, the fact is that the industry has not to date given me much hope that this would spontaneously happen”, she said. She suggested action on several fronts and not simply through a new regulation: “No single approach will do the job on its own. And we cannot exclude that different approaches may need to be implemented for the first years following the expiry of the current Regulation”. “My message to consumers and regulators is that I will not take any position that puts consumer welfare or the building of the digital single market at risk”, she stated. (I.L./transl.rt)