Article for December 21st

The right to roam Kroes looks for an end to roaming charges 12 December 2010 - Issue : 915 Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda is taking on one of the most powerful lobbies with her latest consultation on the high roaming charges faced by European travelers. Announcing a consultation on the charges, she said, "Huge differences between domestic and roaming charges have no place in a true EU Single Market. We need to address the source of current problems, namely a lack of competition, and to find a durable solution. But we are keeping an open mind on exactly what solution would work." Kroes added, “Ordinary citizens and businesses cannot understand why operators charge at today’s high levels. Even operators with a footprint across many EU countries still impose significant extra charges for roaming in the countries where they have a presence. This happens even though the customers actually remain on the intra-group network! “It is even more difficult for consumers to understand data pricing. Less than 5 cents for downloading a MB of data at home can turn into €2.60 per MB when they cross an invisible, and mostly artificial, border! Don’t tell me that is all funding new investment in better networks; I can’t defend that to citizens. I can't defend it for the simple reason that it isn’t true. Last consultation met “Fierce lobby”The consultation, part of the European Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe, is also a reaction to what appears to be cartel like behaviour by telecommunication companies, who appear to be clustering their charges around the upper limit set by European roaming legislation. The EU Roaming Regulation imposed a cap on retail prices for roamed voice calls and text messages within the EU, but according to the European Commission, there is still no competitive Single Market for roaming services. The consultation will run until 11 February 2011 and will provide a basis for a review of the EU's current Roaming Regulation which the European Commission has to carry out before the end of June 2011. This new consultation process brings the opportunity for citizens and businesses with economic interests in the issue of roaming to express their positions on the matter. This new round of consultations provides an opportunity to have a more proportional representation of interests with the new consultation, as in the initial Roaming Regulation (717/2007) citizens and businesses were grossly under-represented. Regulation 717/2007 took under 12 months in terms of the legislation process. Then telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding, described the industry lobby pressure as “fierce”, saying that it had been “one of the highest priced lobbyist campaigns ever done by the industry”. The European Commission Competition Directorate-General (then under Neelie Kroes) was also investigating the matter, but chose to soften its approach, closing the Competition investigation in its final stages to reduce industry resistance, and facilitate the roaming regulation. The 2007 process involved two phases; a total of 79 consultations took place. Consumers groups were massively under-represented, with only two organisations representing consumers, both at a European level. National consumer groups did not enter the dialogue. Meanwhile the industry was represented both by associations of telecom companies and individual companies looking to express their individual concerns regarding the local markets and inherent particularities. Will companies give up ‘easy money’?There has been progress made by the Commission, but as mobile operators face tighter margins on call charges and competition in national markets, industry experts predict the telecom giants, who operate across Europe, will fight hard to keep “easy money” from the high roaming charges.