Brussels, 25/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - European Commission proposals to further regulate the roaming market, presented on Tuesday by Commissioners Viviane Reding (information society and media) and Meglena Kuneva (consumer protection) have prompted a number of reactions. The response from the European Parliament was positive. Angelika Niebler (EPP-ED, Germany) indicated that “Parliament, too, has a clear sense of the realities. The details of the proposal still need to be discussed, but Parliament supports the Commission's proposals, on behalf of all mobile phone users”. Paul Rübig (EPP-ED, Austria) the rapporteur for the first roaming regulation, welcomed the Commission's intention to extend the effects of the regulation to 2012 because “only a few operators offer tariffs below the compulsory price caps”. The Conservative Group, however, regretted overall that the industry had not been encouraged to lower prices following the first regulation and that the EU was obliged to legislate again. Giles Chichester (EPP-ED, United Kingdom) affirmed: “Now too many people are receiving a shock if they access data abroad, and these prices must be brought down…Ideally, we would like the industry to act itself to cut prices, but if it fails, the EU should be prepared to act in the interests of consumers”. Commenting on the “scandalous” prices paid by British consumers, Fiona Hall (ALDE, United Kingdom) asserted: “The arrogance of the mobile phone operators is galling…Once again, action at EU level has greatly benefited the consumer”.
The European Regulators Group (ERG) also gave a warm welcome to the Commission proposals, which correspond to the conclusions the group itself drew on the roaming market. Dáneil Pataki, the ERG president stated: “Part of the difficulties with roaming is attributable to a lack of price transparency for consumers. We welcome the Commission's approach in this regard”. The European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC) was also obviously delighted with the new initiatives on the roaming market. Monique Goyens, BEUC Director General, commented: “Prices closer to real costs, clear and transparent information before the surprise, no more bill shocks…A little bit of clarification, and a few additional measures add the perfect finishing touches to this positive and rapid proposal”.
3 Group Europe, a leading “3G” global player, together with Hutchinson Telecommunications greeted the Commission proposals favourably but said that these should just be the first step towards reducing wholesale data pricing downloads from abroad. Christian Salbaing, CEO for 3 Group Europe said that by setting a cap of €1/MB, “consumers will still pay over 100 times more for data abroad than they do at home…charging consumers unaffordable prices for simply crossing a border will present a pan-European market in data from taking off, as it has at a national level”. The tone adopted by the GSM Association (GSMA) was somewhat different and unsurprisingly deplored the Commission's intentions. The GSM Association considers that the market is competitive, prices are coming down and price transparency increasing, which made price regulation unnecessary and “potentially damaging”. David Pringle, spokesperson for GSMA explained that “there needs to be a comprehensive analysis of their impact before further regulatory measures are considered. A short-term political agenda should not take precedence over the long-term economic impact of regulation”. (I.L./transl.rh)