Category Archives: Press

October 27, 2015 · 4:48 pm

[Press release] EU Roaming-Abschaffung: Eine Salzburger Erfolgsgeschichte

– Kampagne eines Salzburger Studenten hatte großen Einfluss auf EU-Entscheidung –

Am Dienstag hat das Europäische Parlament für die endgültige Abschaffung der Roaminggebühren (also der Extragebühren für Handytelefonate und Internetnutzung im Ausland) gestimmt. Ab Juli 2017 dürfen die Handynetzbetreiber nun in den meisten Fällen keine Roaminggebühren mehr erheben. Diese Entscheidung ist auch ein Erfolg für die vom Salzburger Studenten Bengt Beier gegründete Kampagne “Europeans for Fair Roaming”. Diese hatte seit 2010 für eine Abschaffung der Aufschläge gekämpft.

Der bis dato Erfolg der Kampagne war 2012 die Reform der EU-Roamingverordnung, durch welche Preisgrenzen für die Internetnutzung im Ausland eingeführt wurden und durch die sich die EU zur völligen Abschaffung der Roaming-Gebühren verpflichtete. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Bengt Beier, campaign, Erfolg, European Parliament, regulation, roaming, Salzburg, success, vote

September 12, 2013 · 11:52 am

[Press release] EU roaming: consumer group calls for further price cuts

– EU offers deal to carriers: less regulation for no roaming –

On Wednesday, EU telecom commissioner Neelie Kroes presented a package of reforms to the telecom sector that could merge the fragmented European telecom markets into a single market by 2016. Under the new plan, which the EU calls a “carrot-and-stick” approach, operators will be expected to abolish roaming fees and offer plans covering all of Europe. In exchange, they would be freed from having to open their networks to competition. However, the user group “Europeans for Fair Roaming” calls for further price cuts in roaming, to no more than 10ct per min and MB.

In addition, the new proposal foresees other measure to allow carriers to operate across-borders, including easier authorisation, better coordination of network access and spectrum allocation, harmonised consumer rights and unified rules for net neutrality.

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Tagged as data roaming, European Commission, Neelie Kroes, proposal, regulation

September 10, 2013 · 9:00 am

[Press Release] European Commission to propose new law to unite telecom market (Updated)

– New law to be presented on September 11 – first details leaked –

Tomorrow, EU telecom Commissioner Neelie Kroes will propose a new EU law to merge the fragmented European telecom markets into a single market by 2016. According to early leaks of the proposal, the EU is expected to ban roaming charges (additional charges for phone calls and internet use abroad) from 2016 on by mandating the creation of operator alliances. In addition, users will be enabled to choose a different operator when abroad if their home operator charges extra for roaming.

Just in July, the latest stage of the current EU roaming regulation came into force and cut prices for roaming (by more than 30% for using the internet abroad, for example). Further price cuts are already planned for July 2014. But the new law could bring prices down even more and even lead to operators offering pan-European service plans, according to http://www.fairroaming.org. Continue reading →

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Tagged as data roaming, European Commission, Neelie Kroes, proposal, regulation

June 3, 2013 · 8:30 am

[Press Release] Citizens’ campaign successful: EU Mobile roaming charges fall on July 1

– Prices for mobile phone use lowered again, thanks to successful citizens’ campaign –

Checking your e-mails, surfing the web and making calls while on holiday will once again become cheaper this summer. On July 1, the EU will once again act against high roaming charges and will set new cap prices for calls, SMS and internet use on the mobile. This is a success for the 150000-strong campaign “Europeans for Fair Roaming” that brought down prices much more than originally planned.

According to the EU law, prices for using mobiles phones abroad will be lowered to 24ct/min for calls and 45ct/MB for internet access in July 2013 and will keep going down to 19ct/min for calls and 20ct/MB for internet access by 2014. In addition, users will be allowed to choose a different operator for roaming from next year on, which is expected to bring about more competition. Most operators are already starting to offer roaming packages for travellers in reaction to the new law.

A success for citizens

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