Operators reprieved on European roaming charges
Rating: don’t take your phone to the beach
By Annie Turner
Wouldn’t you know it? European Union countries can¹t agree on how low
roaming charges should go, so for now, they’ll stay as they are.
According to today’s Financial Times, “the deadlock at a meeting of EU
ambassadors in Brussels underlines the difficulties of the pledge by the
European Commission to slash the charges by up to 70 per cent by July.”
A European parliament committee backed a cap of EUR 0.40 a minute to make a
call and EUR 0.15 a minute to receive. The German presidency prefers a limit
of EUR 0.60 a minute to make a call and EUR 0.30 a minute for incoming
calls.
The UK, France and Spain too support higher charges, but the Netherlands and
Denmark are opposed to this and argue that roaming charges should be much
lower.
If agreement can¹t be reached next week, then reduced European roaming
charges are unlikely to be in place for the summer holiday season and some
are suggesting not before 2009.
The operators, the largest of which are also national champions, have fought
hard to derail this initiative, which was introduced by Viviane Reding, EU
telecoms commissioner, last year. They must be delighted that their
lobbying, largely orchestrated by the GSM Association, has paid off.
Shame about the rest of us who still have to cough up about GBR 1 a minute
to make a call in a European country as well as getting clobbered for
receiving them.
My advice is leave your phone at home this summer.
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