A flagship EU project to abolish the roaming rates charged to consumers when they make mobile calls abroad is under threat following lobbying by the mobile industry.
The European Commission will meet today to finalise a regulation. However, last night it emerged key elements of the original proposal would be dropped.
Information Society commissioner Viviane Reding originally proposed abolishing all roaming fees for calls received when consumers travelled abroad. But this "home pricing" principle has now been removed from the proposed regulation following a lobbying campaign by the telecommunications industry over recent weeks.
EU officials conceded yesterday that the regulation would now propose regulating fees that mobile firms charge consumers that receive calls when abroad.
"We recognise that there is a small cost to companies carrying roaming calls . . . so we are proposing a maximum charge 30 per cent above the mobile termination rates [ the fees mobile companies charge each other to carry calls on their networks]," he said.
Another key element of the regulation - regulating the retail price of roaming calls made - is also under threat. Several key commissioners, including Charlie McCreevy, are opposing this aspect of the regulation and will seek to have it removed from the proposal when it is debated by the commission college today.
Trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen and transport commissioner Jacques Barrot have opposed retail price regulation, which would enable the commission to set the final prices consumers pay.
These commissioners believe a plan to regulate the prices mobile companies charge each other for handling roaming calls is adequate. Such wholesale regulation is preferred by many national regulators, who criticised Ms Reding's original proposal.
Commissioners will debate whether it is possible to incorporate a clause in the regulation enabling retail price regulation to be imposed after a period of six or nine months if no drop in consumer prices is detected.
