Brussels, 09/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - British companies Vodafone and T-Mobile UK have announced their intention to reduce their international roaming tariffs but the European Commission still wants to implement a Community regulation against the wishes of the industry. Last week, at the Parliament, a representative from T-Mobile exclaimed that prices paid by mobile telephone users for calls made or received while abroad will not be as high as those published by Commissioner Reding (EUROPE 9185).
Last March the Commissioner for the Information Society, Viviane Reding, announced her intention to present a draft regulation on the subject before summer (EUROPE 9162). Although Vodafone is expected to reduce prices by 40% by April 2007 and T-Mobile UK will apply a fixed rate for them, the Commission does still not intend to abandon its idea, pointed out a spokesperson in the Financial Times on 9 May. The spokesperson also stated, “it's a good sign from industry but more needs doing”. The spokesperson added, “we'll go forward with our proposal that benefits all European consumers, not only those of a specific company”. BEUC (European Consumers Organisation) said that this would result in a windfall instead of excessive prices and the absence of choice of mobile phone service providers.