EU Wants Ceiling On Text Messaging Roaming Charges
17 Jul 2008 - 09:44:43

By W. David Gardner Tue Jul 15, 3:50 PM ET Frustrated at what it has called the reluctance of European mobile phone service providers to sufficiently lower the price of cross-border text messages, the European Commission proposed a mandatory slashing of those costs for the European Union's 27 countries. The EU said Tuesday that it will present a plan for lowering the cost of mobile phone text messages in the fall as draft legislation, with implementation to take place in the summer of 2009. "It is not a good sign for the competitiveness of Europe's mobile industry that it still hasn't got the message that credible price reductions are needed to avoid regulation," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding, according to media reports from Brussels. "There will be a fixed ceiling, not a fixed price. EU citizens should be free to text across borders without being ripped off." The regulatory action has been resisted by the cell phone industry, which has argued that onerous regulations cause operators to hold back on investing in new services. The Association has said that the price of cross-border had dropped by 18% in recent months while mobile Internet costs had dropped by 25%. Industry sources said some 25 billion text messages are sent across country borders every year in Europe and that the cross border prices were 10 times that of in-country prices. Jose Manuel Baroso, president of the European Commission, said lower text messaging fees for roaming would boost European business. "Europe's single market should be allowed to play its part, making sure that no borders reappear on travelers' phone bills," he said. Average (Not Rated) Related Searches: Compare prices and read reviews of the latest HDTVs. Get an alert when there are new stories about: - - id="copyright" Copyright © 2008 .

Full article

Related news

Quarter of EU homes use mobile phones only: survey

EU sounds new alarm about mobile phone bills

EU governments agree to open GSM radio spectrum

Qualcomm, Nokia Still Fighting On Mobile Technology Patents

EU: Price cap on roaming charges brings big savings to mobile phone users

Mobile calls set for take off on UK planes