Brussels, 04/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is very satisfied with the conditions under which the transition to the Eurotarrif is taking place in all member states. It is worth noting that the Eurotarrif is the maximum amount - 49 euro cents per minute for a call made from another country (outgoing calls) and 24 euro cents for a call received from another country (incoming calls)- which operators have been obliged to apply to their clients since 30 August, the cut-off date as required by the regulation of the Commission, which entered into force on 30 June (see EUROPE 9231).
A study carried out by the 25 national telecommunications regulators brought together within the European Regulators Group (ERG), working together with the Commission, and whose conclusions were presented this Thursday, gave an insight into the first phase of the implementation of the regulation, which ended at the end of August, and an overview of the availability of the Eurotarrif. It shows extremely high levels of conformity throughout Europe. Since the end of July, more than 50 million Europeans have been able to take advantage of these favourable tariffs and, at the end of August, this number rose to over 200 million. As of 1 October, 400 million people are now protected by the Eurotarrif. This barometer means that prices have fallen by 57% overall for outgoing calls and by 60% for incoming calls, announced European Commissioner Viviane Reding, who has responsibility for issues related to the information society and telecommunications. Luxembourg's operators were particularly praised for having applied the new tariff from early July. Operators active in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal are also towards the top of the class, because they also allowed their clients to take advantage of the Eurotarrif in July. However, many operators applied a tariff below the Eurotarrif from the very beginning, which shows that competition is already in place and that the markets are competitive, continued Ms Reding. The Netherlands topped the list for countries applying the lowest Eurotarrif (20 euro cents for calls made or received), followed by the United Kingdom (31.57 euro cents for calls made and 12.63 euro cents for calls received), Ireland (32.23 and 15.70 euro cents respectively), Belgium (37.19 and 23.14 euro cents), and Austria (37.50 and 20.83 euro cents).
Even so, the ERG has identified one flat note spoiling the harmonious application of the regulation: the lack of transparency of certain operators, which have not correctly informed their clients of the new tariffs, as called for in the text. Although all operators have confirmed that they made their subscribers aware of the existence of the Eurotarrif before the deadline of 30 July, various offers were not believed to have been transparent. The Belgian operator Mobistar, for example, came in for criticism for failing to inform its clients of the possibility of asking for the Eurotarrif from 30 August. Subscribers were sent just an SMS message to inform them of their automatic transition to the Eurotarrif on 30 September. Commissioner Reding made a complaint to the Belgian national regulator, which is now looking into the situation, and may even consider a sanction.
The ERG's study is based on the results of the questionnaire which the national regulators sent out to international roaming service providers within the European Union. More than 80% of the mobile network operators and many major European service providers responded. The Commission and the European regulator are now preparing to move to the next stage of follow-up to the implementation of the regulation, which provides that as of 30 September, tariff information must be communicated to the clients whenever they visit another country of the EU. Furthermore, the Commission is currently putting together a report for the European Parliament (which is to be completed by the end of 2008) concerning the effects of the creation of the Eurotarrif on competition, its impact on national tariff levels and developments in SMS prices and roaming data services. The Commission is currently carrying out studies into SMS prices and data services, whilst the ERG is to launch a project to collect a detailed set of data in October. It will present the Commission with an initial complete report on the subject in December. Answering a question from a journalist who was asking why the regulation did not already apply to SMS and data services, which are visibly expensive, Commissioner Reding pointed out that the Parliament had initially wanted the Commission to include them in the regulation, but had ended up dropping this option due to the considerable amount of extra time it would have taken for the text to enter into force, because it would have required a more complex examination of the markets. Even so, the Commission is not losing its hold on the situation and is considering a proposal to include the services in the scope of the regulation when it revises it (the regulation is set to expire on 30 June 2010). The following website provides an overview of the Eurotarrif levels in all 27 member states:
http//ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/implemetation/benchmark/. (il)