Eu Regulatory Issues

[snaimon]

Key passages....

For German mobile users not much will change (under the current proposals).

No "roaming" charges for INCOMING calls but they are expecting incoming rates to be about 69 e-cents per minute. (SGN - D1 prepaid inbound rates are 79 e-cents anywhere).

Possibly cheaper local calls (Ortsgespraeche -- possibly calls within the foreign country)....

Little will change on calls from EU country to another EU country -- callers can expect rates of 1 Euro for postpaid and 2 Euros per minute for prepaid. (SGN - if 2 Euros per minute is the top rate, that will be lower than only a few of the current D1 prepaid rates. Malta to DE is curretnly 2.99 and Malta to other EU countries is 3.49 -- the highest EU rate, I believe.)

================

Still looks like the international cards will be better than these rates.

Stan

[Stu]

Here is a link to the IHT's article on the subject:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/...iness/roam.php

[Effendi]

EU: Mobile Operators Not Getting Message Over Roaming

BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- European Union telecommunications commissioner Viviane Reding Tuesday accused mobile phone operators of not getting her "message" that roaming charges are too high.

At a press conference announcing long-awaited proposals to force wireless operators to cut the fees customers pay while traveling abroad, Reding said she had "repeatedly warned" operators to cut the charges. But operators hadn't moved to reduce their prices.

"Mobile operators seem to have some difficulty in understanding my message," she said.

The initiative represents one of the more aggressive pieces of legislation proposed by the Commission and comes as wireless operators battle slowing sales growth and intensifying competition in mature European markets.

Under the proposal, companies must eliminate all roaming charges for receiving a call when traveling abroad. If the idea becomes regulation, for example, a Finn traveling to Spain would be charged the same rate as a Spaniard making a call.

Before she spoke, operators contested these charges. The GSM Association, which represents European mobile equipment makers and operators, sees competition bringing roaming prices down by 8% a year.

At the press conference, Reding showed irritation with the phone operators. It is unreasonable, she said, that Europeans return home from travels within the European Union and find that they pay exorbitant prices to keep in touch with their family. The high prices were unjustified by any additional costs incurred by operators for connecting international calls, she said.

Reding said she didn't believe the regulation would force up the cost of local calls in order to compensate for lost revenues from roaming. Competition is so strong in local markets that operators won't be able to impose price hikes, she insisted.

The Commission is conducting separate investigations into Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone, among others, for breaking antitrust rules in their roaming charges. At her press conference, Reding said she was working closely with EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

"We have ongoing roaming investigations," she said. "Those will not be touched."

Reding said operators now will have a chance to submit their opinions on her proposal, starting on April 2 and ending on April 28. She planned to conduct a full "impact study" on the measure's impacts and submit the final proposal for approval from governments. She said she hoped the final regulation would be in place by the middle of 2007.

By the "summer of 2007," she said she "hoped Europeans could go on holidays without having fears" of a high mobile telephone bill.

-By William Echikson,Dow Jones Newswires;32-2-741-1480;

[andy]

It's odd that the mobile companies seem to think themselves effectively exempt from the single European market that has supposedly existed for more than 10 years, in which time some companies have doubled or quadrupled roaming charges to increase competition, rather than the 8% pa drop mentioned.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by snaimon

Little will change on calls from EU country to another EU country -- callers can expect rates of 1 Euro for postpaid and 2 Euros per minute for prepaid. (SGN - if 2 Euros per minute is the top rate, that will be lower than only a few of the current D1 prepaid rates. Malta to DE is curretnly 2.99 and Malta to other EU countries is 3.49 -- the highest EU rate, I believe.)

You underestimate my country :P
Era Tak Tak and Heyah prepaids (Era network, CAMEL roaming) Malta to Poland 17.07 PLN, Malta to Malta to most EU countries 18.29 PLN, Malta to Lithuania and Malta 23,17 PLN.
1 PLN = 0.25 EUR.

For comparison, a call from Poland to Malta: Tak Tak 3.05 PLN/min, Heyah 1.70 PLN/min.

Should I look for postpaid examples?

[snaimon]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

You underestimate my country :P
Era Tak Tak and Heyah prepaids (Era network, CAMEL roaming) Malta to Poland 17.07 PLN, Malta to Malta to most EU countries 18.29 PLN, Malta to Lithuania and Malta 23,17 PLN.
1 PLN = 0.25 EUR.

For comparison, a call from Poland to Malta: Tak Tak 3.05 PLN/min, Heyah 1.70 PLN/min.

Should I look for postpaid examples?

Sorry.... no offence intended.

I MEANT the highest EU rate for T-MO DE, not in the entire EU. Since I had the DE T-MO roaming rate chart handy (no pun intended), I used that just as an example of roaming rates. I think the E+ roaming rates are even higher than for T-MO DE.

Stan

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by snaimon

Sorry.... no offence intended.

Hey, it wasn't any offence, rather bitter irony (I put a smiley in the end of the sentence).
And in fact it's not about the country, rather about the operator. All I can blame Polish authorities about those rates is 22% VAT instead of 15% (the lowest allowed in the EU). But even lower VAT wouldn't have to lower the final price - the operator could just increase the profit margin even more :whistle: .

But those rates can be cut down and Era showed this. In the summer 2005, they enabled cheap roaming in Europe. For 6 PLN actication fee and 2 PLN monthly fee, each prepaid (Tak Tak, but not Heyah) and postpaid customer while roaming in entire Europe (except Russia only) had a flat rate 2 PLN/min for both incoming calls and outgoing calls to ANY country in the world.

What makes me really angry is the following. Since a call from Era network to any European (not only EU) country can costs 1.70 PLN, so incoming calls in Europe should cost at most the same. Moreover, since in prepaid all calls must(?) be routed via the home country to provide the control of the remaining credit, then any call:
Eur. country 1 -> Poland (routing) -> Eur. country 2 should not cost more than 2 * 1,70 PLN = 3,40 PLN/min for both "legs" which is much below 1 EUR for all. Perhaps CAMEL roaming involves some extra costs which don't occur in callback roaming and that's why my reasoning is wrong, but what the question about rates for incoming calls remains valid - why to pay 7.31 instead of 1.70 :ranting2: ???

Originally Posted by snaimon

I MEANT the highest EU rate for T-MO DE, not in the entire EU. Since I had the DE T-MO roaming rate chart handy (no pun intended), I used that just as an example of roaming rates. I think the E+ roaming rates are even higher than for T-MO DE.

But the case that I described has some things in common.
1) Era is almost half owned by T-Mo and it may be fully owned soon (T-Mo has been "fighting" for years to take over shares from Polish shareholder and Vivendi, and won in the court again a few days ago).
2) Malta seems to be the most expensive roaming country in Europe for many roamers.

[snaimon]

Yes, I THOUGHT you were joking, but I certainly did not want to alienate you. Our grand US government has done enough lately to alienate the WORLD.....

Anyway, Malta rates....

Just does not make much sense other than it's a rip-off. Any German (Pole?) who can afford to go to Malta can afford high roaming rates on their native SIM.

For comparison sake....................

Vodafone POSTPAID rates to UK, France, Italy, Germany and Libya (landlines?)
are about .32 Lm (~1 Euro) / minute; prepaid rates are higher (.37 to .76 Lm) or 1 - 2 Euros.

GoMobile PREPAID rates are a bit lower..... .24 - .32 Lm to Germany (etc., landlines), .39 - .47 Lm to mobiles in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK.

For both carriers I would say NOT CHEAP, but not OUT OF THIS WORLD either. Remember T-MO D1 from Germany to anywhere is 2 Euros / minute (also a rip-off, so let's use that as a "standard."

One would THINK there were mobile call thru options on Malta that would beat those rates.

Stan

[andy]

Something of a paradox here about high roaming rates for Malta ...

People could take their home Vodafone SIM and use Passport on the Vodafone network there, for less than the indigenous network's tariff - a 75p or ?1 connect fee, then home rates eg Voda UK 25p peak, 5p off-peak for local and UK landlines, then a calling card at 2c.

[snaimon]

Originally Posted by andy

Something of a paradox here about high roaming rates for Malta ...

People could take their home Vodafone SIM and use Passport on the Vodafone network there, for less than the indigenous network's tariff - a 75p or ?1 connect fee, then home rates eg Voda UK 25p peak, 5p off-peak for local and UK landlines, then a calling card at 2c.

I am not quite sure I follow all that...

So how popular/well-known/well-used is the Passport feature? It is fairly new, correct? For about a year now, true? Any reports on how many people EMPLOY it?

I thought VODA ML participated in the Passport option. Maltese when THEY travel could take advantage of that.

As for the calling card option from UK (Malta?), again, perhaps it is that people 1. DON'T KNOW or 2. IT'S TOO COMPLICATED or 3. THEY ARE RICH AND JUST CALL REGARDLESS OF THE RATES or 4. ?


Stan