The telecommunications industry has largely welcomed slashed roaming charges, although main player Go warned this could prejudice investment in the sector.
As from the beginning of this month, the cost of using a smartphone to surf the internet when travelling within Europe was halved after the European Union capped roaming charges.
Operators can only charge a maximum 20c per megabyte, plus VAT, for mobile downloads and internet surfing, down from 70c in 2012 and 45c last year.
Melita and Vodafone welcomed the lower tariffs, saying they had already been preparing for the move by launching their own cheaper roaming charges.
Quad play operator Go noted that, faced with a demanding regulatory framework, it was becoming “increasingly challenging” for the European telecommunications industry to fund the ongoing investments required for the renewal of technology and infrastructure.
This new flat rate will make it extremely attractive and cheap for customers to use data and voice while roaming
“Because of the distortions such pressures could place on the market, the European telecommunications industry risks falling behind its counterparts in other parts of the world,” a company spokesman said.
The company said it responded to such pressures “in a strategic way”, which involved focusing on new growth areas such as mobile internet and television and exploring new business opportunities beyond the traditional core to develop new revenue streams.
Vodafone Malta was coy in its stand, saying its position was to comply with all legislation: “Even before the EU legislation came into place, Vodafone was already launching tariffs aimed at reducing roaming costs to customers.”
Melita, the last player to enter the market, said the slashed roaming rates were “in line with Melita’s promise to provide cheaper mobile communication services”.
“Ever since its launch in 2009, Melita has honoured this pledge on a daily basis and, as a result, it is today acknowledged, even by European Commission reports, as the key driving force to successfully reduce mobile communication costs in the Maltese market,” a company spokesman said.
Melita said it remained focused on providing more value and savings to customers, adding it would soon announce a flat rate that would provide roaming customers with the best value of all operators in Malta.
“This new flat rate will make it extremely attractive and cheap for customers to use data and voice while roaming,” the spokesman said.
He said Melita welcomed EU intervention to slash the premiums charged to customers above what they would have to pay for standard calls locally and which were set by the large international operators “thus rendering this matter beyond Melita’s control”.
Asked whether they had witnessed an increase in roaming usage, the companies said the pattern had remained more or less unchanged when compared to previous years.
“The growth in data roaming usage on the Melita Mobile network is in line with the growth in new subscribers and cannot be attributed to tariff changes,” the spokesman said.
A Vodafone spokeswoman, on the other hand, said the company could not disclose commercially sensitive information, noting that, according to the Malta Communications Authority’s communications market review, outbound roaming minutes in 2013 were only marginally higher than 2012.
The telecommunications companies, however, expect usage to grow now that the tariffs have been slashed.