Brussels, 25/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - There would appear to be general agreement on the need to reduce the cost of using mobile phones abroad. This is the main point to come out of the joint hearing organised by the European Parliament's industry and internal market committees on 23 January. In addition to MEPs, representatives of the private sector, NGOs and the European Commission all took part in the hearing. The support, shared by those who spoke, for a cap on international roaming charges was a promising sign for Germany's hopes that a draft regulation on this issue will be adopted during its presidency of the EU. It now only remains for serious differences to be settled in the Council where the French and British, with the backing of a fair number of member states, would like to see the inclusion of a clause which, under certain conditions, would allow the regulation of retail roaming prices to be delayed, while others, like Germany, want retail prices to be regulated as soon as possible.
During the hearing, the Parliament's rapporteur, Paul Rübig (EPP-ED, Austrian), stressed the need for more transparent retail prices for roaming - the fees paid for receiving or making calls via mobile phones while travelling abroad. Both he and the internal market rapporteur, Joseph Muscat (PES, Malta), supported a so-called “push system” that would give consumers roaming price information in an automatic text message received on their mobiles as soon as they entered a different country. Roberto Viola of the European Regulators Group emphasised that the regulation should quickly achieve substantial price reductions and tariff transparency, and be fair and flexible.
To cut the “unjustified high prices” of roaming, Mr Rübig proposed a “Euro Tariff” with an opt-out option, offering customers the opportunity to choose to have a single, standardised and regulated retail roaming charge shown separately from the charges for national calls. He also raised the possibility of an all-inclusive flat rate per month, covering all call charges and the transfer of mobile data such as short message service (SMS) texts and multi-media messaging (MMS). Fabio Colasanti, the director general of the Commission's Information Society Directorate General, however, said he had not been persuaded to include the price of transfer of data and SMS in the regulation, adding that he would prefer to keep the trend in these prices “under review”. He was supported by Steve Jordan of Telefónica-O2, who felt it “not appropriate” to extend the regulation to data services, because these were “still immature” and no analysis had so far been made.
In contrast to the Commission's original policy of three separate price caps, Mr Colasanti acknowledged that, for the sake of simplicity, a single price cap for calls at home, abroad and to third countries might be preferable. Dominique Forest of the consumer group BEUC also favoured an overall retail cap as well as a “push system” for information on roaming charges.
At wholesale level, Mr Rübig supported the idea of a single European price cap, to be based on the average prices in all 27 Member States multiplied by the factor x. Christian Salbaing, representing Hutchison, said the European wholesale roaming market did not work properly and was a case of market failure. He said that his company had negotiated a wholesale roaming price of 25 euro cents for the UK and that he “cannot understand why this price is not acceptable to European operators”. Andrew Kelly of METEOR complained that “roaming in Europe is unfairly controlled by big operators”. He said he preferred a “national non-discrimination provision”.
The Parliament's industry committee is due to vote on the Rübig report on 12 April 2007. The report will then be debated and voted on in the May plenary session. Mr Colasanti noted that the German presidency of the EU was working on a possible compromise proposal, and that the common aim would be to get a first reading agreement on this matter, on which the Parliament and Council are co-legislators.
Member states have all shown support for regulation of wholesale charges invoiced between operators for transferring calls from foreign networks, but some ./..
would like mobile telephony operators to be granted more time before having to apply the rules to retail prices. This idea, which is backed by France and the United Kingdom, would involve the insertion of a clause which would only be applied to those operators which had not passed on savings form reduced wholesale rates to their customers. It is supported by Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy and Poland. Other Member States, such as Estonia, Germany and Ireland, however, would like regulation of retail prices to be adopted as quickly as possible. Finally, the French and British support setting “average prices” calculated on operators' turnovers rather than the capping scheme favoured by the Commission for both wholesale and retail prices.
The draft regulation brought forward by the Commission in July 2006 aims, in the first instance, to cap the wholesale prices which mobile telephony operators charge one another for the transfer of calls form foreign networks. Given that it wants the advantages to the new regulation to really be of benefit to consumers, the Commission has also proposed the capping of retail prices. Operators will be authorised to add a profit margin of up to 30% to their wholesale prices, the same margin which usually applies on national telephone calls. This profit margin is to be applied to roaming calls made and received. For calls received, the capping of retail prices could apply from the time the new European regulation comes into force. With regard to calls made, the cap will automatically apply after a six-month transition phase. Below the retail and wholesale caps proposed in the new European regulation on roaming charges, operators will be free to compete with one another by offering cheaper roaming charges or cheaper service packages tailored to the needs of the consumer. Finally, the Commission proposes to increase transparency on roaming charges for consumers. Mobile telephony operators will be required to provide their customers with full information on roaming charges when the customers subscribe to that service, and to keep them regularly informed of changes in these charges. National regulators will also be required to closely monitor changes in roaming charges for SMS and MMS. (ol)