SMS/data roaming charges set to fall by 60 per cent

The European Commission yesterday proposed to cut roaming services charges, particularly on SMSs and data, by a staggering 60 per cent across the EU by next summer.

This follows various warnings made by Brussels to mobile telecom operators.

According to these proposals, EU citizens traveling in other EU countries should pay no more than €0.11 per SMS compared to the EU average of €0.29 they are charged at present.

The Commission also proposed more transparency for surfing the web and downloading data on a mobile phone while abroad with customers being able to specify in advance how high their data roaming bill can go before the service is cut off.

Maltese customers should be affected positively by the proposed tariffs as they pay quite a high price while sending SMSs from abroad. According to data held by the Commission, Go Mobile customers are paying an average of €0.30 cents when texting from abroad and Vodafone clients pay an average €0.35 per SMS.

This is the second time the Commission is intervening directly in the mobile telephony market as appeals to mobile operators fall on deaf ears.

Following new legislation, mobile operators in the EU had to reduce charges for making and receiving calls abroad (voice roaming) by 60 per cent as from the summer of 2007.

European Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding yesterday told a press conference in Brussels that using a mobile phone while abroad should not cost unjustifiably more than at home. "Europe's 37 million tourists and 110 million business travellers are waiting for the promise of the borderless single market to finally have a positive impact on their phone bills."

Text messaging is universally popular among EU citizens who in 2007 sent 2.5 billion SMSs worth €800 million. Thirty eight per cent of the 15- to 24-year-olds only text when abroad.