EU gives final OK on law to cut roaming costs
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(InfoWorld) - The European Union's 27 governments gave the final OK Thursday to a law that will slash the cost of using a mobile phone abroad by around 70 percent, the German government said. By the end of this month mobile phone operators will have to offer subscribers a capped rate for phoning or receiving calls while outside their own countries. In the first year, roaming tariffs will be capped at â¬0.49 ($0.66) a minute for making calls abroad and â¬0.24 for receiving them. It will fall to â¬0.46 and â¬0.22 in the second year and â¬0.43 and â¬0.19 in the third, respectively. A rear-guard action by the U.K. in defense of mobile phone operators petered out and British Industry Minister Margaret Hodge was convinced to support theÂ compromise packageÂ put forward by the European Parliament. Mobile phone operators haveÂ lobbied hard to avert the law, which they see as unnecessary and harmful to competition. German Economy Minister Michael Glos was chairing the meeting because Germany currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU. He will announce the agreement reached Thursday morning at a press conference at 3 p.m. CET (1 p.m. GMT). Â
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Operators say operators should set prices Mobile World Congress EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has warned mobile executives in Barcelona today that she will impose caps on roaming charges for data and text messaging if they do not cut prices by 1 July.â¦
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including BT, Maxis, NTT, T-Mobile, Telstra and StarHub -- announced this week a series of roaming agreements in which crossing
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Tries to cut down price hurdles Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards will tell a meeting of European regulators today there is a need to make sharp reductions to the costs of "text roaming" and "data roaming" across Europe.â¦
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Mobile phone operators must  act before July 1 to avoid the European Union imposing lower  prices for texting or surfing the Web via mobile phones when  abroad, the bloc's top telecoms regulator said on Monday.
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Mobile phone companies will on Thursday launch a last-ditch lobbying effort over a European Union plan to force them to slash the cost of international calls by up to 70 per cent.
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The European Court of Justice says companies have the right to move to another EU state to cut costs.
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Airline travelers may be able to use  their mobile telephones and other wireless devices in the air  under a proposal to ease the current ban put forward by U.S.  communications regulators on Wednesday.
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Airline travelers might be able to  use their mobile phones and other wireless devices in the air  under a proposal put forward by U.S. communications regulators  on Wednesday to ease the current ban.
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Operators slash costs ahead of EU legislation Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey has praised Irish mobile operators for introducing new tariffs designed at reducing roaming costs in Ireland and the UK.â¦
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BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Commission said Wednesday it had dropped its antitrust investigation into mobile phone roaming prices charged by operators in Britain and Germany after new EU rules forcing telecom companies to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.K. is considering letting mobile phone operators run 3G (third-generation) services on frequencies reserved for 2G services, a change that could mean better 3G coverage and lower costs for the public, the government's telecommunications regulator said Thursday. The move by the Office of Communications (Ofcom) follows the expected relaxation of a longstanding European Union (E.U.) restriction on how certain frequencies could be used. A consultation period started on Thursday and runs through Nov. 29. Other European countries are undertaking similar moves to liberalize their 2G spectrums, according to a spokesman for the GSM Association (GSMA), a trade group for mobile phone operators. A 1987 E.U. directive restricted use of the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrums second-generation services based on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard, which at the time was intended to foster growth of mobile communications across Europe by ensuring a large market for common hardware. The European Commission has proposed allowing 3G in those spectrum ranges: It says the original directive is now stalling growth of 3G services. The proposal should become policy by the end of the year once it is approved by the European Parliament and the E.U. Council of Ministers, according to the Commission. Operators across Europe have been running 3G services in the 2100MHz frequency band for several years. But opening up the 900MHz spectrum is key, as the lower frequencies allow better penetration of buildings, Ofcom said. The signals also carry further, so in rural areas fewer mobile phone masts are necessary: Ofcom estimates that high-quality mobile broadband Internet services could be provided with 10,000 fewer sites per operator. In turn, consumers should see lower costs for 3G services, the Commission has said. Finland and France are already trialing 3G services in the 900MHz band, the GSMA spokesman said. Market analyst Ovum estimates 300 million people will have 3G connections in Western Europe by 2012 if 3G is deployed at 900MHz and 2100MHz. That's compared to only 235 million connections if 3G is restricted to only 2100MHz. About 50 million have access to 3G today. Operators will likely want to continue using the 2100MHz band, as it has a higher traffic capacity than the 900MHz band, and so is better for urban areas where there are more users. In the U.K., Vodafone Group and O2 (UK)Â use the 900 MHz spectrum but only for 2G services. Ofcom is suggesting letting the other operators, Three, run by Hutchison 3G UK; T-Mobile International; and Orange, to have access to that band. The spectrum would be auctioned, with Ofcom awarding licenses as soon as 2009 and services starting by 2010, the regulator said. Ofcom is also looking at removing some technology-specific restrictions from the 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands, which could happen next year.
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Tomorrow in Strasbourg the European Parliament will take what is likely to be its final vote on the new European law regulating and controlling the use of chemicals, known as Reach.
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EU lawmakers endorsed a deal Wednesday to cap mobile phone roaming fees in the 27-nation bloc
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Despite a fierce lobbying campaign by the telecoms industry, the European Commission is poised to force operators to slash the cost of mobile phone calls while abroad, officials say.
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A cap on roaming fees is to be introduced later this summer.   The legislation means that callers will have better information on hidden charges they face when they make calls from another part of the EU.
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European regulators have cleared the use of mobile phones and BlackBerry devices by airline passengers during flights.