EU ministers question roaming regulations

EU governments have called for a rethink of proposals to cut the cost of mobile phone roaming.

National telecoms ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday gave their broad backing to European commission proposals to bring down the cost of cross-border mobile calls.

But many countries questioned whether telecom commissioner Viviane Reding was right to propose direct regulation of prices charged to consumers.

There was widespread support for a joint proposal from Britain and France introducing a six-month ‘sunrise clause’ to tackle this issue.

The proposal would introduce direct regulation of retail prices within six months if an enforced reduction in wholesale charges – those charged between operators – failed to push down costs to consumers.

But Reding warned that a sunrise clause could lead to “delays” in the reduction of retail charges. 

“Those countries that support a sunrise clause want to delay a reduction in prices for several years,” she said.

“Let them explain that to consumers.”

The Luxembourg commissioner said that the joint proposal was too complicated, with retail price regulation only coming into effect if certain conditions were not met.

“But how are we to assess whether these conditions are met? We would need to create a Eurostat framwork for roaming prices,” she warned, referring to the EU’s statistical office.

Britain – which has followed the advice of national telecoms regulator Ofcom in calling for a sunrise period – insisted its proposal would not lead to delays in the reduction of prices.

Instead, it would provide greater flexibility for companies at the same time as ensuring prices were lowered at the consumer level.
 
There was also some disagreement over the way Reding was proposing to calculate the maximum wholesale price.

Some countries were concerned that it would be set too high, by being based on peak-time call charges.

Others feared it could be set too low because the commission proposes basing its calculations on charges between major operators – meaning smaller companies could be obliged to offer services at below cost price.

Despite the criticism from some member states, Reding remained positive that there was almost universal support for the move to tackle high roaming prices.

“We have a very good chance of pushing these new rules through under the German presidency, in time for summer 2007,” she said.

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