EU mobile phone users might have to pay to receive calls

Tag : Mobile Phone Parts
EU mobile phone users might have to pay to receive calls
17 hours ago
BRUSSELS (AFP) — The European Commission said Monday it wouldnot stop telecoms firms from charging customers for calls receivedon their mobile phones in their own country but warned that userscould oppose the move.
"This is for companies to decide. If companies think that thismakes their offer particularly attractive, then we will not forbidit," said telecoms spokesman, Martin Selmayr, when asked if thesystem might change in Europe.
"But we will also not force companies to move to that," he said,adding that the commission would not be imposing any so-called"bill and keep" business model on them.
Europeans pay to make mobile calls but are generally only chargedfor receiving them when they are abroad. Users elsewhere, in theUnited States and some parts of Asia, notably China, pay for botheven in their home country.
At the moment in the EU, telecoms companies bill each other a"mobile termination charge" for calls made between any two networkswhich is then passed on to customers.
The commission, the EU's competition watchdog, wants to cut themobile termination charge, which averages around nine euro cents(14 US cents) per minute, across the 27 EU nations.
The charge ranges from as low as two cents to as high as 20 cents,with Cyprus costing the least, while Bulgaria and Poland were amongthe most expensive.
Selmayr said the idea is to cut these charges to a level that wouldincite mobile phone operators to "move to a less bureaucraticsystem of bill-and-keep in the long run.
"It is not something that happens from one day to another," hesaid, adding that it was a long-term measure that would mean "lessadministrative burden, less red tape, more competition and in theend, lower charges for consumers."
The telecoms industry itself reserved its opinion.
"The principle is that customers don't pay in Europe (to getcalls). It's well understood and accepted by consumers," said DavidPringle, spokesman for the London-based GSM Association, whichrepresents some 750 mobile operators worldwide.
He said the market was changing rapidly and it would be up toindividual mobile operators to decide what to do.
But he added: "I would be surprised that any operator says thatnow."