NEWS: MEPs vote for lower EEA roaming charges

NFH

BBC News: Mobile roaming charges likely to fall after EU vote

Reuters: EU lawmakers pave way for lower roaming caps by June

Until 2001, there was competition for roaming whereby each visited network would set and publish charges for visitors, which would be marked up by the home network by a fixed percentage, typically 35%. Home networks throughout the EU and around the world then decided to "simply" roaming charges by setting much higher uniform charges applicable to all visited networks within a particular country or region, irrespective of the varying lower wholesale charges set by each visitied network. This was anti-competitive behaviour by home networks, and they are now paying the price for this change.

Tony5101

This is great news for the consumer.
It always bugs me the high roaming charges that are applied - even when roaming onto the same company, just in a different country.
3 used to allow roaming onto their own network in any country where they actually owned the network, and calls/texts etc were simply taken from your allowance (3 Like Home) - I can only assume that they stopped this as they viewed roaming as an additional revenue stream.
In many ways it would be a superb USP for any major network to try something like this - I doubt we'll see it though.

NFH

Tony5101 wrote: »

even when roaming onto the same company, just in a different country.
3 used to allow roaming onto their own network in any country where they actually owned the network, and calls/texts etc were simply taken from your allowance (3 Like Home) - I can only assume that they stopped this as they viewed roaming as an additional revenue stream.

This is another good point. I noticed that Orange configured 20 preferred foreign networks on my SIM card, most of which were Orange or T-Mobile networks. This causes my phone to connect to those networks in preference to other networks in a visited country, costing Everything Everywhere less money. Because Orange doesn't pass on the cost savings to me by charging me a lesser charge for using its own networks, I have therefore removed all of Orange's preferred networks from my SIM card and set my own.

gjchester

Tony5101 wrote: »

This is great news for the consumer.

No it's not.

On the face of it it seems good, but companies have shareholders to satisfy and the shareholders want their pound of flesh. Something will go up to compensate rather than the company make a lesser profit.

When EU imposed limits on voice costs we saw the decline of 12 month contracts. When Text cost limits came we've seen the loss of free itemised billing and free calls to voicemails as well as imposition of hard data caps.

I may be unpopular in saying this but everytime the EU imposes a limit the mobile companies up some other cost, and I wish the EU would allow competition rather than sticking it's nose in.


I know the costs when out of the UK, I have roaming and I accept if I need to call its probably an emergency. I have an iphone but yet I've never had bill shock as I know to take care of my use.
Why should I have to pay more for a service I don't use in order to subsidise someone who got **ss** on holiday and phones/texts or post drunken photos to facebook. To stop people running up big bill the answer is to limit roaming so you have to opt in and are told the cost, and you need to agree to have roaming turned on, not to penalise people who don't use it.

NFH

gjchester wrote: »

When EU imposed limits on voice costs we saw the decline of 12 month contracts. When Text cost limits came we've seen the loss of free itemised billing and free calls to voicemails as well as imposition of hard data caps.

That consequence is entirely what should happen. Business travellers and careless tourists have been subsidising free services in the UK such as itemised paper bills. Why should they? If people want itemised paper bills, they should pay for them, and if people want to use their phones in other EEA countries, they should be able to do so at a reasonable price without subsidising other customers.

gjchester wrote: »

I know the costs when out of the UK, I have roaming and I accept if I need to call its probably an emergency. I have an iphone but yet I've never had bill shock as I know to take care of my use.
Why should I have to pay more for a service I don't use in order to subsidise someone who got **ss** on holiday and phones/texts or post drunken photos to facebook.

No, you've got this wrong. Currently these people on holiday are subsidising your intra-UK mobile service.

wantmemoney

the EU steps in to represent the European consumer because individual Governments (especially the UK) are in the pockets of these companies.

The idea that governments should protect citizens against the excesses of free enterprise has been replaced with the idea that governments should protect business activities against the excesses of democratic regulation. --Sharon Beder