EC Regulation no. 717/2007 of 27 June of the European Parliament and of the Council on roaming on public mobile telephone networks within the Community and amending the Framework Directive set out to achieve a sharp reduction in the prices of voice calls for users of public mobile telephone networks when travelling in the Community. It therefore imposed a variety of tariff obligations on operators, both at wholesale level and retail level, stipulating that a ''Eurotariff'' be made available.
During the first year of the Regulation's application the maximum value of the "Eurotariff" for voice calls made or received in roaming within the EU was 0.49 euros (excluding VAT) and 0.24 euros (excluding VAT) respectively, with a further reduction to 0.46 euros (excluding VAT) and 0.22 euros (excluding VAT) from the end of August 2008.
The Regulation also imposed a maximum value for the average wholesale tariff (calculated over a period of twelve months) that operators of visited networks are permitted to charge operators of the domestic network of a roaming customer's home network for a voice call in roaming with origination on this visited network. This limit was fixed by the Regulation at 0.30 euros per minute in the first year of its application, falling to 0.28 euros on 30 August 2008.
On 8 May 2008, the EC launched a public consultation on extending the validity of the regulation, prolonging the "glide path" applying to wholesale and retail prices, the review of its operation and its possible extension to SMS and other data services in roaming.
At the end of September 2008, the EC submitted the proposed revision of the Roaming Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council with the objective of extending it until 2012 and expanding its scope to SMS and data services (e.g. Internet access, MMS) used in roaming in the intra-community area. This proposal also introduced additional measures to strengthen tariff transparency in the context of SMS and data, and to avoid occurrences of bill shock associated with the data transmission services in roaming. The final decision on the revision of the Regulation was to be taken in 2009, taking effect from 1 July this year.
Under the terms of the Regulation, ICP-ANACOM has engaged in several activities since its publication related to its implementation in the Portuguese territory, in particular, in 2008:
- Informing the public about the application of the Regulation - with updates to ICP-ANACOM's website, the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on the subject, and releasing the report on the Regulation's implementation in October 2008, including the results for Portugal;
- Cooperation with other NRAs with respect to the International Roaming Project Team (IRPT) of the European Regulators Group (ERG), in various activities related in particular to the preparation of questionnaires, the compilation and processing of information relating to national operators, development of common guidelines on the application of the Regulation and preparation of ERG reports and positions on the revision of the Regulation;
- Six-monthly communication to the EC with information on the international roaming activity of operators working in Portugal, as required by the Regulation.
According to the third report of the ERG (document ERG (09) 01), covering the period between 01 April and 30 September 2008 (which also includes, for comparison purposes, data from the periods between 01 April and 30 September 2007 and between 01 October 2007 and 31 March 2008), the average wholesale prices and retail prices encompassed by the concept of the "Eurotariff" for voice communications in roaming made intra-EU/EEA, were in compliance with the Regulation in all Member States. However, in two thirds of the countries, the average prices of the "Eurotariff" coincided with the price cap applicable to this type of tariff or were situated slightly below this level.
At wholesale level, there was also a clear drop in prices compared with the situation that existed before the Regulation entered into force.
With respect to text messaged minor changes in prices were detected both in the wholesale market and at retail level. In terms of the data service, the average price per megabyte varies significantly between the various Member States, particularly at retail level. However, in general terms, the average tariffs at retail and wholesale level of the countries of the ERG showed a sharp downward trend between the fourth quarter of 2007 and third quarter of 2008.
