Brussels, 04/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 6 July, the European Commission is expected to propose to extend beyond June 2012 the regulation setting down a euro-tariff for communications and data downloaded from abroad. On 1st July, the revised regulation of 2009 entered into application, once again reducing tariffs from levels of the first regulation in 2007: €0.35 maximum per minute for roaming calls made and €0.11 for roaming calls received. The upper limits set for retail prices do not currently apply to roaming data services (see EUROPE 10409). With the intention of extending the regulation beyond 2012 once again, the staff of Commissioner Neelie Kroes want to attack the retail prices of data downloaded from abroad. Currently, the prices charged are “a nightmare for business people, tourists and young people”, who “daren't use their mobiles and, less still, their smart phones” when travelling in Europe, said the commissioner.
The competent services of the Commission will make a proposal on Wednesday to extend until 2016 the system of euro-tariffs, the tariff upper limits imposed by the European Commission since 2007, stating that competition is still not effective on the roaming market, with operators not proposing cheaper alternatives to the euro-tariff. In July 2012, prices will fall again, to €0.32 for calls made, to €0.28 in July 2013 and €0.24 in July 2014. For taking calls, the euro-tariff will drop to €0.10 in July 2013. Lastly, prices for data downloaded from a European foreign country will be reduced to €0.90 per megabyte downloaded in July 2012 and then to €0.50 in 2014. Currently, users are paying more than two euros per megabyte, despite an initial regulation on wholesale prices, which has not yet been passed on to final users, who are still paying 50 times more than when they download data in another European country. According to AFP, Commissioner Neelie Kroes said she wanted to “tackle the problem of roaming at the root, with a structural approach”, which “attacks the underlying problem of a lack of competition”.
In its digital agenda for Europe, which it adopted in May 2010, the Commission laid down the following objective: the differences between roaming tariffs and national tariffs in the field of telecommunications should be close to zero by no later than 2015. (I.L./transl.fl)