4.10.2007
The users of mobile telephony in the European Union now pay up to 60% less than at the beginning of this year, for using their mobile phone abroad, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Mrs. Viviane Reding announced in Brussels today. She presented the findings of a study showing that the switch to the “Eurotariff” (tariffs no higher than 49 eurocents per minute for calls made abroad and no higher than 24 eurocents for calls received abroad, excluding VAT) for all their roaming customers had evolved according to the European Commission’s plan, so that, by 30 August, around 200 million EU consumers had already switched to the new tariffs.
This study was carried out by the European Regulators Group (ERG), in collaboration with the European Commission, and aimed at assessing the stage of implementation of the EU Roaming Regulation, three months after its entry into force. The study was conducted by the regulatory authorities of the 27 member states, by means of a questionnaire; more than 80% of EU mobile network operators in these countries provided data. The European Regulators Group (ERG) includes the regulatory authorities for communications in the EU member states and ANRCTI is a member of this body.
The results of the study indicate very good levels of compliance with the Regulation, some operators implementing the new tariffs before the deadlines established by this document. Moreover, certain operators were found to have reduced their tariffs below the regulated level. According to Commissioner Viviane Reding, the lowest tariffs in Europe were found in Netherlands (20 eurocents both for calls made and received), the United Kingdom (31.57 eurocents for calls made and 12.63 eurocents for calls received), Ireland (32.23 / 15.70 eurocents), Belgium (37.19 / 23.14 eurocents) and Austria (37.50 / 20.83 eurocents).
In Romania, this research was conducted by ANRCTI on the three mobile operators under the Regulation: Cosmote, Orange and Vodafone. Te research revealed that – among the approx. 19.5 million users of mobile telephony, four million had activated their roaming services, as of August 30, 2007.
During July, all the users were informed on the new tariffs by SMS, by means of the client service officers or by posting such information on the operators’ websites and at their points of sale. Approximately 90,000 deliberately asked for the “Eurotariff”. Apart from these and from the users who had chosen a special roaming tariff and wished to stick with their option, the rest of the users were about to be automatically be switched to the Eurotariff on 30 September 2007.
All the mobile operators in Romania – including Zapp, who does not fall under the European Regulation – are now offering the maximum regulated tariffs, respectively 49 eurocents per minute for calls made abroad and 24 eurocents for calls received abroad, excluding VAT (the users who chose a service package providing a special roaming tariff are excluded).
Starting from the end of September, mobile operators have to send an automatically generated SMS to each user who travels to an EU member state. This message, which may be turned off by all those who do not wish to receive it, offers customised basic information on the maximum tariff a user may pay, according to his/her tariff option, for calls within the borders of the visited country and towards Romania, as well as for received calls. Furthermore, the operators are bound to offer in-depth information on their tariffs by means of a dedicated free number.
Background:
The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council introducing the rules on international roaming tariffs across the Community has entered into force on June 30, 2007. The Regulation establishes the maximum tariff for making a roaming call abroad at 0.49 euro/minute + TVA in the first year since the adoption of the Regulation, provided that – in the next two years – this tariff should drop to 0.46, respectively 0.43 euro/minute. For received calls, the Regulation provides a maximum tariff of 0.24 euro/minute in the first year, and of 0.22, respectively of 0.19 euro in the next two years.