Key EU vote on roaming charges today
A key committee of the European Parliament will vote today on a proposal to cap charges for mobile phone calls made abroad, amid disputes over how to fix the price ceiling.
Euro MPs remain divided about whether the EU-wide cap on “roaming charges” - which can be more than €2.90 a minute – should be automatic or whether customers would only get it from their operator on request.
Centre-right MEPs are in favour of letting consumers who already have a mobile phone subscription decide whether they want to be charged a capped EU-wide roaming tariff or opt to keep their existing packages, which typically have higher roaming fees but lower charges on national calls.
But the Socialists and the EU’s European Commission, which drafted the proposal, argue the cap should be automatic and consumers should be able to opt out if their operator offers them a better deal.
The European Commission claims network providers are reaping massive profits from unjustifiably high roaming charges that can increase call costs fourfold.
A four-minute call home for a Cypriot in Belgium, for instance, can cost €11.75, and for an Irish visitor in Malta as much as €13.20.
The EU executive wants to cut the cost of mobile phone calls for cross-border travellers by up to 70%. It wants to set the ceiling at 50c per minute for an outgoing call and 25c per minute for an incoming call.
The EU executive also wants mobile phone companies to give personalised information to customers on what they will be charged if they take their phone abroad to receive or make calls or text messages.
Austrian Christian Democrat Paul Ruebig, who is charged with steering the legislation through the EU assembly, said an obligatory price ceiling would disrupt mobile phone companies’ delicate pricing structures and lead to massive administrative costs because providers would have to restructure the packages they offer to clients – which could lead to the price of domestic calls rising to compensate for the loss of revenue from roaming.
“If we order all companies not to charge more than a certain amount, there may be no more packages left,” he said.
The plan is one of the most lobbied pieces of EU legislation in recent years. After the parliament’s Industry Committee assesses it today, the full 785-seat EU assembly will vote on it in May, taking the lead from today’s committee vote.
EU governments are to decide on the plan in June, in time for the European summer recess.
