EU ministers support limits on mobile data roaming rates
BERLIN: European Union telecommunications ministers are set Thursday to endorse price limits on cross-border text messaging and mobile Web surfing, according to a copy of the plan obtained by the International Herald Tribune.
The ministers plan to adopt almost verbatim a proposal made by the European telecommunications commissioner, Viviane Reding, the author of similar price restrictions on roaming charges for international voice calls from and to mobile phones.
But the ministers, meeting in Brussels, intend to reject a broader call from Reding to harmonize telecommunications costs and regulations within the 27 EU nations. Under this proposal, the European Commission would have created a centralized regulator with the power to intervene in national telecommunications markets.
The ministers' support for price controls on data roaming makes it a near certainty that the new restrictions will take effect July 1, following final negotiations next spring with the European Parliament. That body in 2007 overwhelmingly supported the limits on voice roaming charges.
The ministers have agreed to cap the retail charge for sending a cross-border short text message at 11 euro cents, or 14 U.S. cents, per message. The wholesale limit on roaming charges for bulk data involved in Internet surfing would be limited to €1 per megabyte.
Today in Technology & MediaA smartphone that isn't too swiftU.S. radio companies continue to weakenHard times help online networking sitesIf the council's position were adopted as it stands, charges for sending text message across EU borders would fall by an average of 62 percent from the current average level of 29 euro cents, according to European Commission data. A similar percentage decline is possible in data roaming charges, which average €3.60 a megabyte at the retail level, according to commission data, but are in some cases as much as €16.
"It's good that the council is endorsing the data caps," said Levi Nietvelt, an economist with the European Consumers' Organization in Brussels. "We would like to see the prices go down even further."
Mobile operators have generally opposed the controls, arguing that the market should determine price levels.
While supporting data roaming caps, the ministers on Thursday plan to send an unequivocal message to the European Parliament and to Reding opposing the attempt to allow Brussels to exert a greater influence over telecommunications pricing within and between the 27 national EU markets.
In two-thirds of EU countries, governments still own either a majority or a large minority stake in the former phone monopoly, which in many cases controls access to the main fixed-line network.
In most EU countries, the national telecommunications regulator works for the same government that owns a stake in the former phone monopoly. Reding's proposed regulatory overhaul, which gained support from the European Parliament, was aimed at dealing with this situation, which Reding sees as a conflict of interest.
But the council on Thursday intends to reject most elements of the regulatory package, which is also aimed at spurring cross-border competition among network operators.
Instead of supporting Reding's call for a powerful, EU-wide regulator, the council plans to propose that a current advisory panel of 27 national regulators, called the European Regulators Group, be transformed into a Brussels-based private corporation - similar to a lobbying group - that would attempt to address issues of EU coordination.
Paul Rübig, a member of the European Parliament from Wels, Austria, who was a co-sponsor of the voice roaming legislation in 2007, said he was confident that Parliament and the ministers' council would reach a compromise in the spring to create a new EU regulator with concrete powers.
"We in Parliament believe that telecommunications prices within the 27 countries should not be arbitrarily affected by national borders," Rübig said.
The ministers also are opposing a plan to compel EU countries to ensure that their national telecommunications regulators remain free of local government influence, removing the word "independent" from the text approved by the commission and parliament. The issue has gained prominence after the prime minister of Romania dismissed the country's top regulator twice in three years.
Malcom Harbour, one of three sponsors in Parliament of the telecommunications legislation, said he was still confident lawmakers would reach agreement with telecommunications ministers to pass a revised package into law.
But Harbour also expressed disappointment with the ministers for not including a parliamentary proposal to spur new investment in EU telecommunications networks. The parliament in September proposed that network operators be able to charge competitors for a portion of the construction costs of new fiber-optic networks if they wanted to eventually lease portions of the grid. Current EU law forbids operators from forcing competitors to shoulder network construction costs, which operators say is holding up new network investment.
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The ministers plan to adopt almost verbatim a proposal made by the European telecommunications commissioner, Viviane Reding, the author of similar price restrictions on roaming charges for international voice calls from and to mobile phones.
But the ministers, meeting in Brussels, intend to reject a broader call from Reding to harmonize telecommunications costs and regulations within the 27 EU nations. Under this proposal, the European Commission would have created a centralized regulator with the power to intervene in national telecommunications markets.
The ministers' support for price controls on data roaming makes it a near certainty that the new restrictions will take effect July 1, following final negotiations next spring with the European Parliament. That body in 2007 overwhelmingly supported the limits on voice roaming charges.
The ministers have agreed to cap the retail charge for sending a cross-border short text message at 11 euro cents, or 14 U.S. cents, per message. The wholesale limit on roaming charges for bulk data involved in Internet surfing would be limited to €1 per megabyte.
Today in Technology & MediaA smartphone that isn't too swiftU.S. radio companies continue to weakenHard times help online networking sitesIf the council's position were adopted as it stands, charges for sending text message across EU borders would fall by an average of 62 percent from the current average level of 29 euro cents, according to European Commission data. A similar percentage decline is possible in data roaming charges, which average €3.60 a megabyte at the retail level, according to commission data, but are in some cases as much as €16.
"It's good that the council is endorsing the data caps," said Levi Nietvelt, an economist with the European Consumers' Organization in Brussels. "We would like to see the prices go down even further."
Mobile operators have generally opposed the controls, arguing that the market should determine price levels.
While supporting data roaming caps, the ministers on Thursday plan to send an unequivocal message to the European Parliament and to Reding opposing the attempt to allow Brussels to exert a greater influence over telecommunications pricing within and between the 27 national EU markets.
In two-thirds of EU countries, governments still own either a majority or a large minority stake in the former phone monopoly, which in many cases controls access to the main fixed-line network.
In most EU countries, the national telecommunications regulator works for the same government that owns a stake in the former phone monopoly. Reding's proposed regulatory overhaul, which gained support from the European Parliament, was aimed at dealing with this situation, which Reding sees as a conflict of interest.
But the council on Thursday intends to reject most elements of the regulatory package, which is also aimed at spurring cross-border competition among network operators.
Instead of supporting Reding's call for a powerful, EU-wide regulator, the council plans to propose that a current advisory panel of 27 national regulators, called the European Regulators Group, be transformed into a Brussels-based private corporation - similar to a lobbying group - that would attempt to address issues of EU coordination.
Paul Rübig, a member of the European Parliament from Wels, Austria, who was a co-sponsor of the voice roaming legislation in 2007, said he was confident that Parliament and the ministers' council would reach a compromise in the spring to create a new EU regulator with concrete powers.
"We in Parliament believe that telecommunications prices within the 27 countries should not be arbitrarily affected by national borders," Rübig said.
The ministers also are opposing a plan to compel EU countries to ensure that their national telecommunications regulators remain free of local government influence, removing the word "independent" from the text approved by the commission and parliament. The issue has gained prominence after the prime minister of Romania dismissed the country's top regulator twice in three years.
Malcom Harbour, one of three sponsors in Parliament of the telecommunications legislation, said he was still confident lawmakers would reach agreement with telecommunications ministers to pass a revised package into law.
But Harbour also expressed disappointment with the ministers for not including a parliamentary proposal to spur new investment in EU telecommunications networks. The parliament in September proposed that network operators be able to charge competitors for a portion of the construction costs of new fiber-optic networks if they wanted to eventually lease portions of the grid. Current EU law forbids operators from forcing competitors to shoulder network construction costs, which operators say is holding up new network investment.
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