MOBILE TELEPHONY : INDUSTRY HAS UNTIL 1 JULY TO CUT DATA ROAMING CHARGES.

EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has given an ultimatum to mobile telephone operators: by 1 July this year, they should lower their tariffs for SMS and data transfers from one EU country to another (roaming). In the absence of such reductions, the commissioner will not hesitate to propose regulating them as she has already done with calls.

"The additional costs of roaming must be justified by additional costs for the operators, or they must disappear," she said on 11 February in Barcelona during the congress of the GSM Association, which gathers more than 700 mobile operators from around the globe. The European Commission will launch a web site during July to see if its objectives have been followed by wholesale and retail offers. It is also preparing, by the end of the year, a report on the application of the regulation which has capped call tariffs since September 2007 at the latest. The document will also concern the state of data prices.

VERY LOW MARGINAL COSTS

At national level, an SMS costs between five and ten eurocents, and as little as one or two eurocents for large users if they buy a bundle'. That can become very expensive beyond national borders: 29 to 50 eurocents. That is three to 25 times more expensive than within a country. "Which is certainly not justified by the very low marginal cost associated with sending an SMS from abroad,"...