The interim report of the European Commission (EC) published on June 29, reveals that mobile operators in the European Union (EU) reduced their roaming tariff in line with maximum prices caps stipulated in the European Regulation on international roaming, but the market remains insufficiently competitive to offer better choices and better prices to consumers.
The report indicates that tariff transparency has improved, as the cost of roaming calls decreased over 70 per cent since 2005 and the cost of sending text SMS intra European Union / European Economic Area (EU/EEA), i.e. the Member States of the European Union and Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein, about 60 per percent. However, consumers still do not benefit significantly from lower tariffs than those imposed by the referred Regulation. The EC considers that the rules on roaming give operators enough margin to offer more attractive tariffs below the regulatory limits. Finally, the difference between roaming tariffs and the national tariffs should come close to zero by 2015, following the objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe.
The report concludes that at the end of 2009 consumers of the EU that would choose a Eurotariff paid on average €0.38 per minute for making a roaming call, in spite of the maximum price cap for Eurotariff of €0.43 per minute for calls made. The average price paid per minute to receive a voice communication on roaming was €0.17, slightly below the maximum cap stipulated of €0.19. The report states that the prices for data roaming have also fallen from its €3.62/megabyte to €2.66/megabyte at the end of 2009.
The Commission will produce a final report on Roaming Regulation by the end of June 2011 to evaluate whether objectives of the Regulation have been achieved and whether the market is responding as it should (namely as a Single Digital Market).
Further information:
- Interim report on the state of development of roaming services within the European Union http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/docs/interim_report2010.pdf
