Europe Nears Price Cap on Mobile Text Messaging
BERLIN — European Union telecommunications ministers are set to endorse on Thursday proposed 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 involving cellphones.
But the ministers, meeting in Brussels, intend to reject a broader call from Ms. Reding to harmonize telecommunications costs and regulations within the 27 countries in the European Union. That proposal called for the European Commission to create 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, after 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 American cents.
If the council’s position were adopted as it stands, charges for sending text messages across European borders would fall by an average of 62 percent from the current 29 euro cents, according to European Commission data. A similar percentage decline is possible in data roaming charges.
“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 plan to send a message to the European Parliament and to Ms. Reding by opposing the attempt to allow Brussels to exert a greater influence over telecommunications pricing.
The national governments of two-thirds of member countries still own either a majority or a large stake in the former phone monopoly, which in many cases controls access to the main fixed-line network. In most European countries, the national telecommunications regulator works for the same government that owns a stake in the former phone monopoly.
Ms. Reding’s proposed regulatory overhaul, which gained support from the European Parliament, was aimed at dealing with this situation, which she considers a conflict of interest.
But the council intends to reject most elements of the regulatory package, which is also aimed at spurring cross-border competition among network operators.
Instead of supporting Ms. Reding’s call for a powerful regulator, the council plans to propose that a current advisory panel of 27 national regulators, called the European Regulators Group, be transformed into a private corporation — similar to a lobbying group — that will try to address issues of coordination.
Paul Rübig, a member of the European Parliament from Austria, who was a 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 Europe-wide regulator.
The ministers also are opposing a plan to compel countries to ensure that their national 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 twice in three years dismissed the country’s top national telecommunications regulator.
Malcolm Harbour, one of three sponsors in Parliament of the telecommunications legislation, said he was confident lawmakers would reach agreement with telecommunications ministers to pass a revised package into law.
source
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 involving cellphones.
But the ministers, meeting in Brussels, intend to reject a broader call from Ms. Reding to harmonize telecommunications costs and regulations within the 27 countries in the European Union. That proposal called for the European Commission to create 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, after 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 American cents.
If the council’s position were adopted as it stands, charges for sending text messages across European borders would fall by an average of 62 percent from the current 29 euro cents, according to European Commission data. A similar percentage decline is possible in data roaming charges.
“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 plan to send a message to the European Parliament and to Ms. Reding by opposing the attempt to allow Brussels to exert a greater influence over telecommunications pricing.
The national governments of two-thirds of member countries still own either a majority or a large stake in the former phone monopoly, which in many cases controls access to the main fixed-line network. In most European countries, the national telecommunications regulator works for the same government that owns a stake in the former phone monopoly.
Ms. Reding’s proposed regulatory overhaul, which gained support from the European Parliament, was aimed at dealing with this situation, which she considers a conflict of interest.
But the council intends to reject most elements of the regulatory package, which is also aimed at spurring cross-border competition among network operators.
Instead of supporting Ms. Reding’s call for a powerful regulator, the council plans to propose that a current advisory panel of 27 national regulators, called the European Regulators Group, be transformed into a private corporation — similar to a lobbying group — that will try to address issues of coordination.
Paul Rübig, a member of the European Parliament from Austria, who was a 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 Europe-wide regulator.
The ministers also are opposing a plan to compel countries to ensure that their national 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 twice in three years dismissed the country’s top national telecommunications regulator.
Malcolm Harbour, one of three sponsors in Parliament of the telecommunications legislation, said he was confident lawmakers would reach agreement with telecommunications ministers to pass a revised package into law.
source
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