Euro roaming tariff a little closer.

26 June 2007

The long awaited cap on mobile phone roaming charges in Europe took another step towards becoming law today, with approval from the EU ministers with responsibility for competitiveness.

With the measure already formally approved by the member states, approval by these ministers was merely a formality, but one that means the final hurdle preventing the measures from passing in to EU law by the weekend have been removed.

The changes are unlikely to be implemented in time for summer holidays, but anyone planning a European break in the autumn should be able to benefit from the capped rates.

The proposal is that wholesale roaming rates (the amount operators charge each other) should be set at €0.30 per minute, but should then decrease by €0.02 every year for the three years of the agreement.

Outgoing calls, when roaming, will be set at €0.49 a minute, incoming at €0.24, with both dropping by €0.03 a year except for the first year when incoming calls will drop by only €0.02.

The GSM Association (GSMA), a trade body representing mobile operators, has been fighting the proposal since February, as it believes that self-regulation is the best way to ensure competitive pricing. The GSMA has been trying to lever the tariff as high as possible because it believes members won't be able to survive if outgoing calls are billed at less than €0.65 a minute.