European Parliament gives its final vote to cut roaming prices (Alan Butt Philip)

Alan Butt Philip <alan@alanbuttphilip.org.uk>

European Parliament gives its final vote to cut roaming prices

April 22, 2009 1:25 PM

The European Parliament today in Strasbourg voted in favour of the Commission's proposal to substantially cut the prices for texting and surfing the internet with your mobile phone while abroad. The plenary vote is the last step before the new roaming rules can enter into force on 1 July - just in time for the summer holidays.

ALDE MEP Adina Valean drafted the report on the "Roaming 2" regulation, which also seeks to improve transparency for consumers.:

Alan Butt Philip, top Lib Dem candidate for Wales in the European Parliamentary elections said, "From 1st of July 2009 EU citizens can send an SMS in roaming for only €0.11, avoid excessive bills while using the internet and generally have smaller roaming bills. Failures in this market created a real need for regulation but I am also looking forward to increased competition as well as the review we have called for seeking alternative options for regulating roaming services in the future."

The new roaming rules will mean that:

A text message (SMS) should cost a maximum of €0.11 (excluding VAT), compared to a current average of around €0,29 thus bringing down the prices for roaming messages by 60 %.

The ceiling for voice calls will be lowered year on year until 2011, starting with €0.43 per minute (excluding VAT) for outgoing and a maximum of €0.19 per minute (excluding VAT) for incoming roaming calls from 1 July this year. The operators would have to charge their customers by the second but can apply an initial minimum charging period of 30 seconds, to cover for their set-up costs.

The prices for sending emails and pictures or web-browsing from mobile phones or laptops while roaming should also decrease. Data roaming charges should also fall (the cost of surfing the web or downloading movies with the mobile phone while abroad) through introducing a wholesale cap of € 1 per MB downloaded (this cap will go down to € 0,80 in 2010 and to € 0,50 in 2011).

To prevent "bill shocks" (sometimes reaching thousands of euros), unless consumers decide otherwise, operators will have to apply limits to data downloads while roaming, with a default limit which must not exceed 50 € per month.