EU

Voice roaming needs greater competition, claims Euro regulatory body

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Pointing at the lack of price competition, the European Regulators Group (ERG), an independent body which groups all the European Union member states' telecoms regulators, has stated that there is an obvious need to extend voice roaming regulation and to consider new measures to curb excesses in SMS roaming.

The ERG accepted that preliminary data for the period October 2007 to March 2008 indicated that the new Eurotariff had successfully capped voice roaming charges, but the information also showed that prices clustered just below the cap, indicating no evidence of price competition or tariff innovation.

The ERG has said it will advise the European Commission and the European Parliament on the need for further regulation ahead of a further round of reform of the rules governing the telecoms sector.

For more on this story:
- read AFX News

Related stories:
EU operators jack up roaming fees. Roaming fees story
EU launches inquiry into mobile data roaming fees. EU inquiry story

EU says handsets 'ideal' for Europe-wide ID cards

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:59:54 -0400

The EU has entered the politically sensitive issue of ID cards with the suggestion that cell phones would be the ideal platform. The EU has given the go-ahead to test cross-border electronic ID systems in an effort to create pan-European recognition of the 30 million national ID cards currently in use in 13 member states.

ID cards are already used within Europe to access a variety of public services, with the idea now being to align and link these systems without replacing existing ones. The EU wants the new system to allow citizens to identify themselves electronically in a secure way and deal with public agencies either online or ideally from mobile phones. Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, has entered the debate claiming that electronic identities do not yet do enough for mobile EU citizens. "The Stork project moves us a step closer to seamless movement between EU countries that Europeans expect from a borderless Single European Market." Stork (Secure idenTity acrOss boRders linKed), is being led by the U.K. Identity & Passport Service and will run for three years and receive €10m in funding from the European Commission.

For more on this story:
- read PC Advisor

Related stories:
Finland to Allow National ID on Cell Phones. ID Card story

Roamers outside Europe hit by price hike

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:59:57 -0400

The enforced cut in roaming fees imposed on European operators by the EU has seen roaming calls into Europe increased by a massive 163 per cent. Operators are said to have lifted call tariffs in an attempt to offset the losses from roaming charges within Europe.

According to Informa analyst Angela Stainthorpe, since the EU roaming regulation came into force, operators have reported roaming revenue declines into the hundreds of millions of Euros. "As roaming traffic growth hasn't kept up with falling tariffs, operators are looking elsewhere to recoup their losses.

For example, said Stainthorpe, the average price of a call home to Italy made by a subscriber roaming in Russia was €3.67 (excluding VAT) per minute in 2006 but had risen 25 per cent to €4.58 since the Eurotariff came into play. A German mobile user outside the EU has seen a massive 163.7 per cent price increase since 2006 for a call home from Africa.

For more on this story:
read Telecoms.com

Related stories:
EU launches inquiry into mobile data roaming fees. Roaming fees story
European roaming charges falling--official. Roaming charges story

EU defines coverage parameters for mobile satellite services

Mon, 26 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Operators wanting to offer mobile services using satellites need to read the fine print of the latest EU decision regarding the coverage requirements for each European country.

This move follows approval from the European Parliament that confirms that satellite services will need to cover at least 60 per cent of every country in Europe--and 50 per cent of their populations, in order to get operating spectrum. The EU believes these new mobile services will be used to 'improve accessibility, speed, and quality of electronic communications services especially in rural areas.' However, given the several-second latency associated with geo-stationary satellites, it remains unclear what services can be effectively offered via this transmission platform.

For more on this story:
-read The Register

Related stories:
ICO Global launches mobile services satellite. ICO story
MSV, Nortel team on WiMAX. Satellite story

Cell phone players call for more spectrum

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

The European economy would receive a financial boost of at least €95 billion over the next 20 years if one quarter of the UHF band were instead allocated for mobile broadband services, according to an 'independent' study commissioned by Ericsson, Nokia, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone. The report states that the financial benefit would come from the major operators being able to offer wireless broadband services such as email and fast web surfing on mobile phones. Vodafone director of public policy, Richard Feasey, said: "This spectrum is some of the most important to be released in the last 20 years and will be critical to Vodafone's plans to deploy mobile broadband services in Europe on a truly universal basis."

However, this is unlikely to be accepted by the TV broadcasters, who themselves want to hold on to the analogue spectrum for new services such as HDTV.

For more on this story:
- read 3G.co.uk and The Inquirer

Related story:
Euro GSM spectrum to be open to 3G, states EU. Euro GSM story

High-price operators to be shamed by EU regulator

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Never one to avoid a fight, the combative EU Telecoms Commissioner, Viviane Reding, has threatened to name and shame operators that do not cut prices for roaming text messaging and wholesale data transmission by July 1.

Warning operators that her department will examine European mobile tariffs and publish the results on a website, Reding said she would submit regulations that could come into effect as early as the end of this year to ensure operators take note of her demands.

The EU Commissioner has taken issue with the roaming tariffs charged by operators for text messages and data downloads. She has called for the price of a text message sent outside of one's home country to be capped at 12 euro cents, down from the average of 29 cents in Europe. Looking at mobile data rates, Reding has pointed to some operators charging as much as €11, or US$17, per megabyte of data transmitted outside of their home country, but most charge €5 to €7, she said.

"These prices represent a cash cow, they are huge and cannot last," Reding said. "They are hampering the development of a service that could explode, and those who could create content."

In their defence Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and KPN have already announced cuts in their data roaming prices.

For more on this story:
- read International Herald Tribune

Political opposition to EU super-regulator plans

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:56 -0400

A Spanish conservative MEP has dealt a blow to the plans by EU telecom commissioner Viviane Reding to create a Europe-wide super-regulator after a paper criticising the proposal was tabled.

The MEP concerned, Pilar del Castillo, claimed that the new plans added unnecessary red-rape and would be too remote from the local markets it seeks to regulate. The paper is particularly damaging given that the author is the MEP charged with steering Ms. Reding's plans through the EU parliament. Reding has been pushing for a single super-regulator since she initially proposed the idea in late 2006. Under her plan, national regulators would continue to analyse their domestic markets, but the central European regulator's word would be final.

However, Castillo's paper states that, since national conditions differ, a "one-size-fits all approach" is inappropriate. "Furthermore it is not clear that Europe has a single market problem of the size and nature to justify a radical change in institutional set-up."

For more on this story:
- read Cellular News

Related Story: Vodafone downgraded by EU threat

Reding urges national regulators to reform

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:57 -0500

Never one to hold back, Europe's telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, has challenged individual telecoms regulators within Europe to adopt her ambitious spectrum reform plans.

Focusing on what would accelerate the adoption of mobile Internet services, Reding expressed her concern about the apparent lack of ambition for tackling the digital dividend in many member states. "We cannot wait until 2015 to make a mobile allocation in the digital dividend spectrum if we do not want to be sidelined in our quest for mobile Internet."

Speaking to a joint gathering of the European Regulators Group (ERG) and the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) in Gothenburg last week, Reding praised the U.S. for its ongoing 700 MHz auctions for "showing the way to open up the digital dividend."

However, she distanced herself from imitating the American process: "In Europe, we have a more complex situation (than the U.S.) and we should be more circumspect, especially concerning the risks of indiscriminate use of auctions. We should consider the full mix of distribution methods available in order to maximize the overall societal, cultural and commercial value of this spectrum."

For more on this story:
- read Moconews

T-Mobile works with rivals to divert EU threat

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

Fearing that the EU will again force mobile operators in Europe to cut prices has seen T-Mobile instigate discussions with its European competitors. The proposed deal would see the larger operators agree to reduce the network charges made to carry each others mobile Internet traffic in the hope of averting an enforced price cut from Brussels.

Regardless of this initiative, several operators, including Telefonica and Vodafone, have already reduced their mobile roaming data prices, and T-Mobile is expected to unveil next week a new wholesale regime to be adopted by the networks it partners with around Europe. Observers expect that this move by T-Mobile will see end-user pricing drop accordingly.

However, the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph has reported that Vodafone CEO, Arun Sarin, has hit out at regulators' criticisms. "The data roaming market is very competitive," Sarin said. "Six months ago we brought out a €12 all-you-can-eat-a-day roaming tariff; T-Mobile, Telefonica and others have other competitive products of their own. There will be no need for any regulation… I don't see any need for interference here."

For more on this story:
- read Daily Telegraph

Call for EU to slash European data roaming costs

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

The U.K.'s telecoms regulator, Ed Richards, has told a meeting of European regulators that there is a real need to impose harsh cuts to text and data roaming charges across Europe.

To support his call, Richards points to new research claiming that sending a text from one country to another might, when compared to texting within one country, see charges of four-times higher being imposed. The roaming costs associated with mobile Internet access was also criticised, with Richards stating that the cost of sending data was an "even more significant long-term issue" and an "obstacle to business."

"We want to see the industry take the initiative on this issue or we may need to see further action at the European level since national regulators are unable to address these issues unilaterally," said Richards.

While the EU imposed a cap to wholesale roaming charges for voice calls at €0.30 per minute last year, many operators are reported to be charging consumers for a full first minute of a call even if it is actually only 20 or 30 seconds long. On average this means that roaming is 20 per cent more expensive than domestic calls.

As an indication of the EU annoyance at the slow pace of change, the communications commissioner, Viviane Reding, is pushing for a central European regulator to replace national regulators, accusing them of being too cosy with telcos.

For more on this story:
- read Financial Times, The Register and Daily Telegraph