Mobile Roaming Charges

The Roaming Regulation was proposed in 2006 by the European Commission following concerns expressed by National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) through the European Regulators Group (ERG) that the 2002 Regulatory Framework prevented regulators from adequately addressing the issue of high roaming charges. The Roaming Regulation came into effect on 29 June 2007 - (EC) No 717/2007 roaming on public mobile telephone networks within the Community. In addition, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources made Regulations in December 2007 designating ComReg as the National Regulatory Authority for the purpose of the Regulations S.I. 792 of 2007.

The Regulation placed a price cap on wholesale and retail voice calls while roaming in the European Union. It also placed a number of transparency measures helping to ensure that consumers are well informed. It requires mobile operators to give free personalised information on retail roaming charges when roaming in the EU. This included an SMS text to be automatically sent to an individual’s mobile phone with basic price information when roaming. Service providers are also required to provide a freephone number where detailed price information may be obtained.

The Review of the Regulation

In September 2008 The European Commission published a proposal to review the functioning of the Regulation including the extension of the Regulation in scope and duration. This followed a consultation launched on 7 May 2008. On June 8 2009 the Council of EU Telecoms Ministers formally adopted the new roaming rules proposed by the European Commission and approved by the European Parliament in April 2009.

What kind of changes came into force on 1 July 2009

Euro SMS tariff introduced - wholesale charge 0.04 cent ex VAT/retail charge 0.11 ex VAT,0.13 incl.VAT
By 1 July - Operators to advise consumers individually on the availability of the EURO SMS tariff
Wholesale data cap - €1.00 per megabyte, reducing to €0.80 on 1 July 2010 and €0.50 on 1 July 2011
Improved transparency - Basis personalised tariff information sent to a consumer’s mobile phone when they enter a member state, this message includes pricing for voice/SMS and data. It also includes a freephone number to contact your mobile operator while roaming and the number for accessing emergency services 112
Basic personalised tariff information on initiation of a data roaming session
Further reductions on Eurotariff (see below):

Wholesale voice rate

Effective Date	1 July 2009	1 July 2010	1 July 2011
Wholesale rate voice calls	0.26	0.22	0.18

Retail voice rate

Effective Date	1 July 2009	1 July 2010	1 July 2011
Calls made VAT incl.	0.52	0.47	0.43
Calls received VAT incl.	0.23	0.18	0.13

Note : (Subject to a possible minimum charge (30 seconds) applied by the mobile operator, per second billing charged thereafter). The retail voice rates include VAT.

What kind of changes came into force in 2010

Data transparency - By 1 March operators to provide a facility where consumers can opt free of charge for a facility which provides information expressed in volume or consumption,( one financial limit must not exceed €61.50 including VAT), by 1 July 2010 this will be the default limit for all consumers who have not opted for a another limit
Voicemail - From 1 July mobile operators shall not charge customers for the receipt of a voicemail message