News
EU commissioner rails against data roaming
Stuart O'Brien Jun 16 2008, 10:14am
First it was the DVB-H mandate, now Viviane reading has data roaming charges in her sights.
EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding says European mobile users may have to accept charges for receiving calls as a way of securing lower roaming charges, especially for text and web access.
Asked by the Financial Times if the industry should be open to exploring US-style charges for receiving a call as a way of offsetting roaming costs, Reding said:
"Why not? The whole market is developing, so we should not stay on the rules that have been in place 10 years... I think the business models are not for the European commissioner to decide.
Business models are for the operators to decide."
Reding is due to publish a recommendation later this month that national EU telecoms regulators take steps to cut the amount operators charge each other to handle international roaming calls.
The mobile industry is expected to resist such calls, with the GSMA stating last week that data roaming charges fell by 25 per cent in the year to April.
