THE EUROPEAN Commission will force mobile operators to further cut the cost of calls and texts when travelling in Europe but it will be 2011 before it mandates cuts in data roaming charges.
Speaking at a conference in Dublin yesterday, Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the Information Society and Media, said that, despite the price cap introduced last September, there still wasn't proper competition on roaming charges.
"Voice roaming is still a problem - most operators are offering prices at the ceiling," said Ms Reding. As a result, she said the commission would regulate that charges be reduced by three cent a year.
Currently the maximum European operators can charge their customers while roaming in the EU is 49 cent per minute to make calls and 24 cent to receive calls. Ms Reding said that, while charges for voice roaming had come down by 60 per cent, usage was up by 34 per cent.
Last week, the commission announced a similar proposal for text messages which would see the cost reduced to 11 cent by July 1st next. Irish consumers currently pay 15 cent to 39 cent depending on their network and tariff.
Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan later pledged Irish support at the Council of Ministers for the proposal.
Ms Reding said she planned to cap the wholesale price for data roaming at €1 per megabyte but, because this was a relatively new market, it was too early to impose a retail price cap. She plans to review prices in 2011.
The commissioner made her comments at a conference organised by the Communications Regulator (ComReg) on how to handle the digital dividend - the valuable spectrum that will be freed up when terrestrial broadcasting moves to digital technology over the next four years.
She described this as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" and said it was essential the additional spectrum was made available for new services and not reserved for broadcasters.
Ms Reding called for a joint European approach to the digital dividend. She is proposing 50 per cent of the spectrum be reserved for broadcasters and 50 per cent for new users such as high-speed broadband, multimedia services and wi-fi networks.
She said the high prices paid at auction for 3G mobile licences demonstrated why a co-ordinated pan-European approach to spectrum was required.
"Those auctions were very positive for the ministers of finance but they didn't do anything to develop the technology," said Ms Reding.
After the conference, Ms Reding and Mr Ryan issued a joint communique pledging to work together on reducing mobile costs, improving broadband penetration, spectrum management and introducing digital television.
