Brussels, 11/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission is to adopt the long-awaited regulation on international roaming services, that should in time ease consumers' finance. On Tuesday, it was learnt from reliable sources that the College had reached a consensus on the broad lines of the regulation for which only points of detail remained to be settled (for example, should there be a “sunrise clause”, that is, an accelerated procedure for entry into force of the regulation? And should there be a “sunset clause”, that is, automatic expiry of the regulation after a certain length of time?) The regulation will therefore be the result of a compromise as the proposal presented by Commissioner Reding will not have had an easy ride, with criticism from some of her colleagues (Messrs Mandelson, Verheugen and McCreevy) having forced her to make a number of changes (in particular, no immediate intervention on the retail market).
Sources familiar with the issue say the regulation will not impose fixed prices on companies but rather price scales that must not be exceeded whether it is for a call received abroad, a local call or an international call from abroad. The value of the calculation retained will be the Mobile Termination Rate (MTR), that is, an approved value corresponding to the cost that service providers must bear for the last part of the call. On the basis of the latest market analyses taking the current MTR value into account, ceilings would today be: - for calls received abroad: 13 centimes + 30% (i.e. nearly 17 centimes); - for local calls made abroad (a Belgian resident calls a national Spanish number in Spain, for example): 26 centimes + 30% (i.e. about 34 centimes); - for international calls made abroad (a Belgian resident calls a Belgian number from Spain, for example): 39 centimes + 30%, or about 50 centimes. As the MTR fluctuates, these scales are likely to change and may be reduced by the time the regulation takes effect, the Commission states, foreseeing entry into force for summer 2007 (a period of adjustment would nonetheless be granted to operators, some sources say). SMS and MMS messages will not be taken into account in the regulation but national regulation authorities are asked to remain vigilant. While the cost of mobile phones has dropped over the years, the price of roaming has not followed the same pattern, the Commission deplores, justifying the approach adopted today. Over the years, the 2002 framework of electronic regulations has proved powerless to regulate the specific market of roaming as far as tariffs are concerned, and analyses carried out each year have confirmed this, the Commission adds, stating that the regulation adopted on Wednesday will be based on Article 95 of the EC Treaty (internal market). The regulation, moreover, provides for a device for ensuring price transparency for consumers. Consumers must be kept fully and regularly informed of tariffs practised by operators. The regulation will be revised every two years and the public will be informed of the reference values of MTR once a year via the Official Journal. Evoking the threat brandished by operators who state they will make up for their loss in profit margins by hiking prices in other sectors, the Commission tries to be optimistic, saying that the sector is sufficiently competitive to regulate itself and prevent price rises that would be to the detriment of the consumers.