A Common statement of INTUG and Europeans for Fair Roaming
Over the last days, the new proposed EU mobile roaming regulation has come up on the agenda of the European Parliament and the Council. While many of the proposed amendments to the regulation are going in the right direction, the price caps are still much too high and the EU is risking to destroy the business of small operators that wish to enter the roaming market and make attractive offers for roaming.
The International Telecommunications User Group INTUG and the network Europeans for Fair Roaming (FairRoaming.org) therefore demand that the European Parliament and the Council must now take the right decisions. The retail price caps for mobile phone users must be set at lower levels than what is currently proposed:
- No more than 11ct for calls made by 2014
- Free receiving of calls from 2014 on
- No more than 10ct/MB for data by 2014
Furthermore, INTUG and FairRoaming.org warn against putting up high hurdles for market entrance and access to roaming services for small and virtual operators. Bengt Beier of Europeans for Fair Roaming stated: “If the new rules make it too hard for new and small operators to offer innovative roaming services, there will be no competition and roaming will remain as expensive as it is. And even worse, the existence of small operators and thousands of jobs could be threatened! The end users want lower prices for roaming and the new regulation has to deliver those.”
Nick White of INTUG stated, “These are extremely important issues for business users. If the regulation fails to introduce lower price caps, new low-cost roaming services and the freedom of users to choose their roaming operators, European businesses will continue to be seriously hindered in their ability to introduce innovative and more efficient cross-border processes. The absence of an international market for mobile services with the obstruction of MVNOs, can only be overcome by some form of structural change in the mobile market. The current situation with unjustifiably high roaming charges, especially for data, is damaging Europe’s competitive position and blocking investment in growth generating and job creating activities.”
For more information on INTUG, please visit http://www.intug.org/
Download the Press Release here (English version):Press Release 19 December 2011
We are happy to announce that Arlene McCarthy, Labour MEP for North West England has endorsed Europeans for Fair Roaming and our demand for lower roaming fees in the EU. Ms McCarthy is a long serving member of the European Parliament and former chair of the influential Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and current vice-chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. In her endorsement, she stated: “I work with my colleagues on the responsible committees now to ensure we continue to enforce and improve the consumer protection measures in place for users of roaming services.”
Europeans for fair roaming 
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