Tag Archives: roaming

February 28, 2012 · 12:28 pm

[Press Release] Welcome improvements but prices could be lower

The European citizens’ Initiative “Europeans for Fair Roaming” welcomes the new proposal of the European Parliament to lower roaming charges in Europe but remains committed that prices could be lower. The European Parliament today voted on amendments to the newest push by the EU against the high costs of using mobile phones abroad.

In their proposal, parliamentarians propose to lower costs for roaming calls to 15ct per minute and for internet access to 20ct per Megabyte (or 200€ per Gigabyte) until 2014. While those prices are still higher than what would have been appropriate according to the European telecom regulator BEREC, they are an improvement over older proposals by the European Commission. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under News, Press, Statements

Tagged as Angelika Niebler, European Parliament, European Union, expensive, ITRE, Neelie Kroes, roaming, vote

February 21, 2012 · 9:20 pm

Judith Merkies MEP calls for action

Dutch member of the European parliament Judith Merkies (who now also supports our mission) has started a write-in campaign for lower roaming charges.

Ms Merkies who sits on the key committee ITRE stated: “Kroes’ proposal is way too cautious. We have a single market in Europe, haven’t we? Then why these high costs? I want to eliminate the differences between national and international rates as soon as possible.”

Merkies prefers more ambitious plans than those of Commissioner Kroes. Her goal is to completely abolish roaming charges until 2014: “From then on, it doesn’t make a difference if you call from another EU member state to Amsterdam, Lisbon or Berlin.”

Support Merkies; call Kroes and MEPs for action
To support her plans, Merkies calls for action: click here to send a direct e-mail to Members of the European Parliament or retweet the tweet posted below

Fed up with high roaming costs? RT this to @NeelieKroesEU, says @judithmerkies. Or e-mail MEPs: http://bit.ly/wE5a83 #stoproamingnow

Comments Off on Judith Merkies MEP calls for action

Filed under News, Statements

Tagged as campaign, European Parliament, European Union, Fair Roaming, Judith Merkies, roaming, support

February 2, 2012 · 7:03 pm

Our demands for fair roaming regulation

While many of the proposed amendments to the new EU roaming regulation are going in the right direction, the discussed price caps are still much too high. 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, the EU is risking to destroy the business of small operators that wish to enter the roaming market and make attractive offers for roaming if too high hurdles are introduced. We therefore demand the non-discrimination of small and virtual operators accessing roaming services, lower price caps (especially for internet access), free receiving of calls, concrete plans for a more integrated European telecommunications market, and more. For more details, please have a look at our position paper: Roaming Improvements.

Comments Off on Our demands for fair roaming regulation

Filed under News

Tagged as amendments, data roaming, EU, European Parliament, Fair Roaming, regulation, roaming

February 1, 2012 · 10:59 am

Arlene McCarthy MEP endorses our call

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.”