European Commission Will Set Maximum Roaming Rates

[sec]

Maximum 33 cent per minute for calls within the Country visited
Maximum 50 cents per minute for calls to your home country
Maximum 16 cents for incoming calls

Not bad, is it?

Implementation by the summer 2007

Le tariffe al dettaglio imposte dalla Ue si baseranno sulla tariffa di terminazione media nella Ue pari a 12,6 centesimi al minuto: i tre tetti massimi e i prezzi saranno calcolati sulla base della media della tariffa e del prezzo europeo all'ingrosso della terminazione.

Il primo riguarda le chiamate dirette all?interno del paese in cui si trova l?utente ? se ci si trova in Germania e si deve chiamare un taxi, ad esempio - e prevede l?applicazione di una tariffa doppia rispetto alla tariffa media Ue pi? il 30%: in sostanza si pagher? all?incirca 33 centesimi di euro al minuto.

Nel caso di telefonate dirette fuori dal Paese in cui ci si trova ? se si ? in vacanza e si chiama casa ? la tariffa sar? il triplo della tariffa media di terminazione Ue, pi? il 30 per cento: si pagher? circa 50 centesimi al minuto.



Il terzo tetto ? il pi? dibattuto ? riguarda invece i costi sostenuti da chi si trova all?estero e riceve una chiamata: la risposta non sar? del tutto gratuita come avrebbe voluto la Reding, ma coster? una volta la tariffa media europea pi? il 30%, quindi all?incirca 16 centesimi di euro.



Per le tariffe all?ingrosso ? stato invece escluso il sovrapprezzo del 30%.



La questione pi? spinosa e che ha messo pi? in difficolt? la Reding ha riguardato i tempi di adozione del regolamento: in base a quanto ? stato infine stabilito, le compagnie telefoniche avranno sei mesi di tempo per adeguarsi alle nuove regole, anche se gli operatori potrebbero anche anticipare gli effetti del regolamento ancora prima dell?estate del 2007, per approfittare del ?vantaggio della prima mossa sul mercato per guadagnare nuovi clienti?, ha spiegato il Commissario.

[snaimon]

I think those are the WHOLESALE prices. Retail may be 30% higher.

[Triband81]

Not bad, I just saw an interview with her on CNN International. She sure had a solid plan, I hope it gets implemented to some degree since most providers won't go along with every part of her proposal.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/07/12/eu....reut/index.html

[sec]

Originally Posted by snaimon

I think those are the WHOLESALE prices. Retail may be 30% higher.

From the article I read that's supposed to be the retail prices (the tarifs indicated already include the 30%: they are based on a wholesale price of 12,6 cents x 2 and x 3, plus the 30% )

[snaimon]

I did indeed misread the article.

From teltarif today:

'Demnach w?rde ein ankommendes Gespr?ch im Ausland momentan f?r den Endkunden 16,5 Cent pro Minute kosten. Telefonate innerhalb des Auslands k?men auf h?chstens 33 Cent pro Minute und Telefonate aus dem Ausland ins Heimatland oder ein drittes Land w?rden auf maximal 49 Cent pro Minute festgelegt. Der Endkundenzuschlag von 30 Prozent ist hier den Unterlagen zufolge bereits eingerechnet. Unklar ist jedoch, ob an dieser Stelle noch eine anfallende Umsatzsteuer aufgeschlagen werden d?rfte."


33
49
16.5

According to tt.... you are correct that these are retail prices INCLUDING the 30%. TT says it is unclear if the VAT is included or not in those prices.

Anyway it does not seem that this will happend anytime soon so our international cards will still be of use. Wonder if THEY will be forced to conform to these rates? I suppose if they are EU countries of origin, the will. CH is not, but they don't have a horse in the race.

Stan

[sec]

Originally Posted by snaimon

Anyway it does not seem that this will happend anytime soon so our international cards will still be of use. Wonder if THEY will be forced to conform to these rates? I suppose if they are EU countries of origin, the will. CH is not, but they don't have a horse in the race.

THEY will be forced only by the market, if they are based in a non-EC country... My guess, in any case, is that International cards will have a long life, because roaming prices in non-EC countries with EC operators might arise as a consequence of this regulation.

[Asick]

Looking from a non EU country I still see some advantages of international cards such as UM or Travelsim: they allow free incoming calls with the outgoing tariff similar to the rates quoted in the beginning of this topic. Thus, for us (outlanders ) it will be always better to pick an international card than a EU 'normal' card. The advantage for EU citizens is that they will be able to keep their number paying few money for incoming calls (which is often more reasonable than forcing your friends or relatives to call for 20-40 cents/min or more a foreign mobile number that your international card has). So, international cards will be existing for the rest of the world, at least.

[andy]

"Operators are likely to mount a legal challenge ..."

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content...sp?men=2&sub=6

O2 cut European roaming rates to 35p, 50c - how many of us believe this would have spontaneously happened due to competition, rather than the threat of EU intervention? And what about those various senior executives in certain networks that have agreed roaming charges are unfair - will they be forced to send their CVs around?