Competition 'has not lowered roaming rates'

Competition between mobile phone networks remains poor and has done little to benefit local subscribers with advantageous roaming prices, according to a report released in Brussels based on July 2009 prices.

Operators may have been forced by the EU to slash their exorbitant roaming charges but the tariffs quoted by Go and Vodafone were almost identical and prices hovered around the maximum cap permitted by the EU.

On the other hand, Melita, the new entrant in the mobile market, lowered its prices slightly when compared to its two local rivals, although not significantly, the report says.

The European Commission report was issued on the eve of a new tariff structure for roaming that will come into force tomorrow forcing mobile operators to further lower their tariffs.

Although the cost for roaming decreased substantially over the past years due to EU legislation, "consumers still do not enjoy significantly lower tariffs than those imposed by EU rules and competition on the market is not yet strong enough to provide better choice and even better rates for consumers".

According to information provided by the Commission, Malta's two major mobile operators are not really competing on roaming tariffs.

Until June 2009, the latest available data, Vodafone and GO had an identical tariff structure for roaming SMSs, charged at 13c per text message, the limit imposed by the EU price cap. It was 36c in March 2006 when the new EU rules kicked in. Melita also adopted the same tariff when it joined the market.

With regard to voice roaming, there was a slight difference in tariffs although this was minimal.

According to the Commission's data, in July 2009 a four-minute peak-time call to Malta from Germany would cost a Go user €2.06 and €2 for a Vodafone subscriber.

Receiving a four-minute call from Malta while in Germany would cost a Go and a Vodafone subscriber the same - 88c. On the other hand, the price for similar calls on a Melita network cost €1.88 and 72c respectively.

The situation was even worse for local consumers before the EU rules kicked in.

In March 2006, making the same four-minute call from Germany would have cost a Go subscriber €5.58 and €5.19 for a Vodafone subscriber.

Commenting on the results achieved in the past three years on an EU level, Nellie Kroes, the EU's Commissioner for digital agenda, said although prices in the EU had gone down by an average of almost 70 per cent, retail prices still tended to cluster around the EU regulated maximum price caps.

Meanwhile, the new set of tariff caps entering into force tomorrow is intended to push down roaming prices even lower.

The maximum retail prices (excluding VAT) for roaming calls will now drop by nearly 10 per cent, to 39c from 43c per minute, for calls made, and by more than 20 per cent, to 15c from 19c per minute, for calls received.

Receiving a voice mail message while roaming will be free but consumers will continue to be charged for listening to their voice mail messages. Prices for sending short text messages will remain at 11c per message.