MOBILE TELEPHONY : OPERATORS WORKING ON ROAMING RATE CUTS.

Mobile telephone operators have calculated objectives to lower the price of SMS and other data transferred from one EU country to another ( roaming') by 1 July (see Europolitics 3486).

For SMS, a mature' market, it is necessary to bring roaming prices closer to the national tariffs: 12 eurocents per SMS maximum would be, according to our information, the objective set for retail prices (billed to customers). This action is being taken in order to avoid a regulation, as the EU did last summer for roaming mobile calls.

Today, sending an SMS while roaming costs 29 eurocents on average in the EU, and up to 50 eurocents in some cases. While at national level, retail prices oscillate between five and ten eurocents per SMS, and one or two eurocents for large users who buy the SMS in bundles.

"I can understand that the retail price for sending an SMS message abroad is two or three eurocents more expensive than sending an SMS nationally. Above that, however, there is a clear...