The EU received abroad but criticized operators for sticking

Tag : Internet Phone Call
EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said some European phone operators areovercharging by fixing roaming fees by the minute instead of byeach second of a call.
On average, consumers pay for 24 percent more time than they usefor calls made outside their home nation and 19 percent more forthe calls they receive, he said.
"This is something that the European Commission will now considerin the weeks to come," he said.
EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding "may tackle also thisissue" in draft rules she plans to present at the end of Septemberthat aim to curb the cost of text messages sent from abroad, hesaid.
Selmayr could not estimate how much money companies make forcharging for this extra time, saying the European Commission isstill analyzing this information and will publish it in the nearfuture.
The EU last year capped the costs of mobile phone calls made andreceived abroad but criticized operators for sticking just underthe legal limit instead of making deeper cuts to average retailprices.
From Aug. 30, the cap will fall again from euro0.49 to euro0.46($0.72 to $0.68) for calls made abroad and from euro0.24 toeuro0.22 ($0.35 to $0.32) for calls received. These prices do notinclude value-added tax which is levied at different rates in eachof the EU's 27 nations.
Regulators claim the EU move has brought real savings for customersas average prices for calls crashed from euro1.15 ($1.70) perminute in 2006.
But telecom companies dispute the EU's claims that they generateunjustified profits from roaming charges, saying some are makinglosses that will hurt investment in new technology while lower feeshave not encouraged far more travelers to use their phone abroad.
Cheered by the success of slashing call costs for travelers, theEuropean Commission is now threatening to impose a cap on roamingfees for text messages, saying it wants prices to crash by up to 70percent.
It is also warning that it may take action on "heavily overpriced"mobile Internet fees if companies don't do more to reduce these inthe next few months.
EU residents traveling outside their home nations send some 2.5billion text messages every year, paying 10 times more than they doat home. The EU's telecom chief said some 97 percent of the priceof each message is "pure revenue for the operator" wrung out of thethree-quarters of the young people who text when abroad.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materialmay not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed