Mobile Roaming Charges

On 7 June 2007 The European Council of Ministers reached political agreement on a proposal for a Regulation on roaming. This had been proposed by the European Commission to force substantial reductions in mobile roaming charges and had earlier been approved by the European Parliament.

The roaming Regulation was proposed by the European Commission following concern expressed by national regulators including ComReg through its European Regulatory Group. The 2002 Regulatory Framework prevented regulators from addressing the issue of high roaming charges. The new Regulation lays down rules on charges that may be levied by mobile operators for the provision of roaming services for voice calls originating and terminating within the community at both wholesale and retail level.

How does the EU Roaming Regulation reduce roaming prices?

Wholesale roaming rates are subject to price cap of 30 cent per minute, decreasing to 28 cent and 26 cent after 12 and 24 months.

Retail rates are subject to the following limits:

VAT exclusive basis	2007	2008	2009
Maximum limit for the eurotariff for calls made with EU	49 cent	46 cent	43 cent
Maximum limit for the eurotariff for calls received within EU	24 cent	22 cent	19 cent

The roaming Regulation will also ensure that information about pricing is clearer for consumers. It requires mobile service providers to give free personalised information on retail roaming charges to their customers. Although the regulation caps roaming prices for voice services only, at the same time it requires national regulators to monitor closely price developments for roamed short message services (SMS) and data services. The Commission calls on mobile operators to demonstrate very clearly their willingness to voluntarily reduce the very high roaming charges for SMS and data services to avoid them also having to be regulated.

The new roaming Regulation became law on 30 June 2007, ComReg is currently in contact with all four mobile operators in Ireland to monitor implementation and compliance with this new EU Regulation.

The Irish mobile operator EU roaming charges as of 30 August 2007 are shown below. The prices are at a per minute rate and VAT inclusive.