Saturday, 30th August 2008 - 09:57CET
Cheaper roaming rates from today
Vodafone and Go Mobile have introduced cheaper roaming rates as from today in line with the EU Roaming Regulation.
The new rates are valid for calls originating and terminating in an EU state.
A spokesman for Vodafone told timesofmalta.com that Vodafone’s outgoing call rate has been reduced from €0.58 to €0.53 a minute, including VAT, and incoming calls from €0.28 to €0.25 a minute, including VAT.
These rates, the spokesman said, were below the requirements of the EU Regulation and were applicable to all Vodafone pre-paid and post-paid customers.
A spokesman for Go said Pay Monthly clients using their mobile phone to make calls within the EU would be charged €0.54 per minute,and Pay As You Go subscribers €0.53 per minute.
Incoming calls while roaming on any EU network will be charged at €0.26 per minute in the case of Pay Monthly subscribers and €0.25 per minute in the case of Pay As You GO subscribers. All rates are inclusive of VAT.
In terms of to the EU's Roaming Regulation, the old price cap of €0.49 per minute (excluding VAT) for making a call while abroad has been reduced to €0.46 (excluding VAT).
The maximum price that European mobile phone operators are able to charge their customers for receiving a call while roaming has also dropped from €0.24 to €0.22 per minute.
The EU's Roaming Regulation, which came into force last summer and which is due to expire in 2010, foresees a third and final lowering of the price caps - to €0.43 and €0.19 respectively - on August 30, 2009.
The European Commission introduced price caps after studies found that European mobile phone operators were applying excessive roaming charges to their customers - on average €1.15 per minute.
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Comments
And we continue paying through the nose! It is much cheaper calling Australia using 1021 prefix on Go than calling mobile to mobile in little Malta. Our local mobile tariffs are probably the most expensive in the EU and this is how it has been ever since the beginning. Calls have been highly expensive and only because the 2 providers have no worries about competition... yet.
We should also note that these cheaper rates have only come about because of the actions of the EU regulator, contrary to the impression given by the nice smiling promotional photo above.
If they really wanted to crack down on this abuse then the regulator should demand that the price of the incoming or outgoing call is displayed on the handset prior to accepting or making the call. There are few areas where a customer has to choose to accept a service without knowing in advance how much that service will cost.
If Joseph Muscat got his way, Malta would have not joined the EU and the rates would NOT be getting cheaper.
@ Zammit, both Go and Vodafone are bound by EU Regulations. The lowered the tariffs withing the limits imposed by the EU. They did not make them free of course but kept the highest rates possible in the circumstances.
Interesting how some prices quoted include VAT while others exclude VAT. Also interesting to note is how the two "competitors" have the same tariffs...
"The European Regulators Group (ERG), the body which brings together telecoms authorities from the 27 EU member states, said bills are also on average 19% higher for calls received from abroad. The gap is even wider in countries such as Malta, Austria and Poland, the figures showed."
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/eu-declares-war-minute-phone-tariffs/article-174956