EU urges phone users to turn off mobiles

The European Commission has urged mobile phone users to turn off their handsets when abroad in protest at “excessively high” roaming charges.

Its call came after a survey conducted for the Commission found 70% of Europeans want it to act to reduce the cost of cross-border mobile calls.

The commission first said in July that it intended to cap roaming charges.

Europe‘s mobile phone networks insist legislation is not needed as they are already reducing their roaming prices.

Reaffirming its intention to bring in caps, the Commission said its latest survey also found that calls to a mobile in another country within the EU could be as much as four times higher than a call within one nation.

European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is leading the caps plan, said the current high prices were putting off people from using their phones while on holiday.

“Excessively high prices restrict mobile usage while abroad,” she said.

“This hurts consumers, it hurts European industry and it hurts Europe.”

The legislation to cap roaming charges is currently being debated by the European Parliament, and the Commission says it wants the new law adopted before the 2007 summer season.

However, mobile phone operators insist the legislation is not needed, and firms such as Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom have already announced plans to reduce their roaming charges.

According to the Commission, the European roaming market is worth 8.5 bln euros a year, or 5.7% of the sector’s revenues.

The Commission estimates that its legislation will save European phone users 5 bln euros a year.

 

— The survey

 

The survey was conducted in September after the summer holiday period. It covered 24,575 EU citizens, taking in all 25 member states, age groups, professions, etc. As underlined in the Eurobarometer report, the findings of the survey are representative of the EU population as a whole. The main findings are:

–         79% of EU citizens surveyed have a mobile phone;

–         44% of those who own a mobile phone travelled to another EU country in the 12 months prior to September;

–         70% of respondents surveyed support EU action to bring charges down;

–         Many mobile phone users make use of their phones less when travelling abroad as compared to when at home – 81% of these do so because of the higher prices they are charged when roaming;

–         15% of travellers switch off their mobile when on holiday abroad or do not take it with them;

–         59% would use their mobile phone more when travelling abroad, if prices were lower;

–         43% of mobile phone users are still confused about the prices they pay for making or receiving calls whilst abroad.

 

— Who will benefit?

 

On average, roaming prices are still four4 times higher than national mobile calls, differences that cannot be explained by the costs incurred by the operators.

A UK customer roaming in Spain can pay €5.92 to make a four-minute call and up to €4.48 to receive such a call. A French customer travelling in Italy could pay €4.72 while a German customer roaming in the UK can pay up to €6.36. Some customers face much more exorbitant prices: an Austrian in Malta could pay €9.51 to call home for four minutes. A Spanish customer roaming in Latvia can pay up to €9.19 and a Cypriot roaming in Belgium can pay €12.00 for the same call home. An Irish customer roaming in Malta could pay as much as €13.16 for a four-minute call home.

If you receive a call while roaming, you also have to pay a lot. Operators routinely charge their customers 300-400% more than the cost of these calls.

At wholesale level, there are no agreed inter-operator tariffs for such “received calls” so operators would certainly be able to offer their customers lower prices without changing international agreements.