kaspaas
Expert Member
EU to end overseas call charge rip-off on mobiles
By Simon Freeman
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2107116,00.html
European mobile phone companies are to be forced to stop charging customers inflated rates for using their handsets abroad.
The European Commission is to draft a directive banning the charge levied for accepting a call overseas, and insisting on a fairer rate for callers across Europe with a cap on controversial 'roaming' charges.
Under the terms of the proposal, which must be backed by the 25 members of the EU Parliament, phoning home from abroad would cost no more than a domestic mobile call between two mobile operators.
Viviane Reding, EU European Media Commissioner, said that people travelling across the EU for business and pleasure were being punished with unjustified high phone bills. She said that the legislation was necessary because of the failure of mobile operators to reduce costs themselves.
"Today it is only when using your mobile phone abroad you realise that there are still borders in Europe," she said.
Ms Reding said that phone companies were profiteering by charging travellers for receiving a call when they are away. A British customer in Slovenia, for example, will be billed for a call made to his answerphone even when his phone is switched off.
The Commission today published new figures on a "name-and-shame" website showing that Finnish customers pay just 20 cents (13.8p) for a four-minute call home from Sweden. Maltese customers face the worst deal: phoning home from Latvia costs €13.05 (£9.03) for less than four minutes.
Ms Reding said: "Most prices remain unchanged or have even gone up. Mobile operators seem to have some difficulty understanding my message."
The Commission’s roaming website is supposed to help consumers find the best deal by showing them costs charged in September 2005 by their home phone company and the network of the country they are visiting.
EU regulators started investigating "excessive" roaming prices in 2000, leading to charges against German and British phone companies for abusing their monopoly power.
Industry estimates suggest that these services can account for up to 20 per cent of operators' revenues. However, operators have faced significant, sustained criticism for the cost of a service under which calls made from abroad can be up to 50 times more expensive than a standard UK national call.
Phone companies insisted that calls from abroad are more expensive because they take into account fees levied on operators by foreign companies for using their networks, as well as currency fluctuations. However, industry experts say that these charges seem to be unjustified when many mobile companies have operations throughout Europe.
T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Germany’s Deutche Telekom AG, insists that it favours lower charges, but argues that market forces will prove more effective than regulation.
"We think sinking prices will eventually lead to higher use and that is certainly good for all," spokesman Christian Schwolow said. "We are convinced that the competition itself is bringing the prices down."
GSM Europe, which represents Europe's main mobile operators, said that retail price intervention would have a "detrimental impact to the European mobile industry and its global competitiveness".
It said that while special travel packages had been introduced over recent years by mobile companies to offer better value for money, international roaming was a "value-added service allowing customers to freely make and receive calls all over the world".
# In eastern India authorities have been moved to inform customers that rumours of "devil calls" from certain numbers, said to have led to the death of the recipient, are a marketing ploy.
People started turning off their handsets after news swept Orissa state of phones exploding like bombs, killing their owners when they answered the calls.
An official from India’s state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam phone company said: "What I suspect is it could be the handiwork of vested interests to subsequently market anti-virus software for mobile phones. We will investigate."
By Simon Freeman
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2107116,00.html
European mobile phone companies are to be forced to stop charging customers inflated rates for using their handsets abroad.
The European Commission is to draft a directive banning the charge levied for accepting a call overseas, and insisting on a fairer rate for callers across Europe with a cap on controversial 'roaming' charges.
Under the terms of the proposal, which must be backed by the 25 members of the EU Parliament, phoning home from abroad would cost no more than a domestic mobile call between two mobile operators.
Viviane Reding, EU European Media Commissioner, said that people travelling across the EU for business and pleasure were being punished with unjustified high phone bills. She said that the legislation was necessary because of the failure of mobile operators to reduce costs themselves.
"Today it is only when using your mobile phone abroad you realise that there are still borders in Europe," she said.
Ms Reding said that phone companies were profiteering by charging travellers for receiving a call when they are away. A British customer in Slovenia, for example, will be billed for a call made to his answerphone even when his phone is switched off.
The Commission today published new figures on a "name-and-shame" website showing that Finnish customers pay just 20 cents (13.8p) for a four-minute call home from Sweden. Maltese customers face the worst deal: phoning home from Latvia costs €13.05 (£9.03) for less than four minutes.
Ms Reding said: "Most prices remain unchanged or have even gone up. Mobile operators seem to have some difficulty understanding my message."
The Commission’s roaming website is supposed to help consumers find the best deal by showing them costs charged in September 2005 by their home phone company and the network of the country they are visiting.
EU regulators started investigating "excessive" roaming prices in 2000, leading to charges against German and British phone companies for abusing their monopoly power.
Industry estimates suggest that these services can account for up to 20 per cent of operators' revenues. However, operators have faced significant, sustained criticism for the cost of a service under which calls made from abroad can be up to 50 times more expensive than a standard UK national call.
Phone companies insisted that calls from abroad are more expensive because they take into account fees levied on operators by foreign companies for using their networks, as well as currency fluctuations. However, industry experts say that these charges seem to be unjustified when many mobile companies have operations throughout Europe.
T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Germany’s Deutche Telekom AG, insists that it favours lower charges, but argues that market forces will prove more effective than regulation.
"We think sinking prices will eventually lead to higher use and that is certainly good for all," spokesman Christian Schwolow said. "We are convinced that the competition itself is bringing the prices down."
GSM Europe, which represents Europe's main mobile operators, said that retail price intervention would have a "detrimental impact to the European mobile industry and its global competitiveness".
It said that while special travel packages had been introduced over recent years by mobile companies to offer better value for money, international roaming was a "value-added service allowing customers to freely make and receive calls all over the world".
# In eastern India authorities have been moved to inform customers that rumours of "devil calls" from certain numbers, said to have led to the death of the recipient, are a marketing ploy.
People started turning off their handsets after news swept Orissa state of phones exploding like bombs, killing their owners when they answered the calls.
An official from India’s state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam phone company said: "What I suspect is it could be the handiwork of vested interests to subsequently market anti-virus software for mobile phones. We will investigate."