Brussels, 30/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - With effect from 1 July 2011, and until 30 June 2012, EU mobile operators will again be obliged to lower retail prices for roaming calls in line with EU rules first introduced in 2007 and amended in 2009. Consumers opting for the EU-regulated “Eurotariff” will pay no more than 35 cents per minute for calls made (as opposed to the current 39 cents) and 11 cents per minute for calls received while abroad in the EU (compared to the current 15 cents). The cap for data roaming wholesale prices (the price which operators charge each other) will fall to 50 cents per MegaByte (down from 80 cents per MB). The current regulation does not establish a retail price cap for data services. This is the last in the series of regulated price cuts under the current EU Roaming Regulation, which expires at the end of June 2012.
However; the Commission is seeking to go further in this field. Next week, it will present proposals for updating rules that will enter into force on 1 July 2012. This will be part of the effort to introduce a structural response to the persistent problem of excessive invoices for roaming services to private individual customers. It will also set out caps on retail prices in an effort to protect consumers, not only in the field of voice call services and text messaging but also in the data services domain. In its European Digital Agenda adopted in May 2010, the Commission defined the following objective: differences between roaming and national tariffs in telecommunications must be close to zero by 2015 at the latest. Roaming voice call service tariffs in Europe are still three times higher than their equivalent national services. Data roaming services cost €2.60 per mega-octet downloaded abroad, although customers often pay less than five cents for downloading the same volume at home. Although prices for data roaming services have significantly fallen, consumers cannot say the same for retail prices. Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes has warned: “We have to tackle roaming problems at the root with a long lasting structural approach. The Commission will therefore be coming forward very shortly with comprehensive new proposals for long-term solutions to address the underlying problem of lack of competition in roaming markets.” (I.L./transl.fl)