24.06.2009

Use of mobile phones to go down in price in the EU

There will be a drop in the tariffs for making and receiving mobile calls, sending text messages and using data services in the EU. The new EU Roaming Regulation will become effective on 1 July 2009. The new roaming rules will amend the first EU Roaming Regulation that entered into force in the summer of 2007 and set a price cap for call prices. The new roaming regulation will be in force for three years. The price caps apply to calls made and text messages sent in the EU.

According to the price cap or "Eurotariff", the maximum price for a roaming call in the EU is 0.5246 euros a minute and the maximum price for an incoming call is 0.2318 euros a minute. As of 1 July 2010, the caps will go down to 0.4758 euros and 0.183 euros a minute and on 1 July 2011 to 0.427 euros and 0.1342 euros a minute. In addition, the billing will be based on seconds. A connection fee for a maximum of 30 seconds can only be charged for outgoing calls.

A price cap for sending text messages in the EU will be set at 0.1342 euros. As before, no charge is taken for receiving text messages when abroad.

New rules for data services, too

The regulation sets a price cap for the wholesale prices network operators charge one another for the use of mobile data in the EU. Also, it is expected that end-user prices will go down due to the wholesale price cap. The maximum price of a transferred megabyte is 1.00 euro and the price will further go down to 0.80 euros in July 2010, and to 0.50 euros in July 2011.

In the future, customers will have better possibilities to protect from bill shocks. Also, they will be better able to monitor, free of charge, their use of the mobile phone or other mobile device. By 1 March 2010, telecom operators will have to provide their customers with a service enabling the follow-up of their accumulated consumption and a cut-off mechanism of the data service once the bill reaches the limit they have opted for.

It has been the custom of telecom companies to inform their customers of call prices by sending automatic price information messages as the customer reaches a roaming area. In the future, operators must send their customers the basic price information of text messages and data services, too. Operators must inform their customers of data service tariffs so that they understand the economic consequences of the use of data services and are able to control the use of data services.

FICORA will monitor the compliance with the obligations set in the regulation in Finland. For example, FICORA will follow the development of roaming prices bi-annually and report the results to the European Commission.

More on the Regulation on the European Commission's website.

Further information:

Mari Österberg, Legal Counsel, tel. +358 9 6966 306, +358 40 524 5368