EU telecoms chief sees roaming fee cap by summer
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The European Union's top telecoms  official said on Tuesday work on rules that will cap mobile  phone roaming charges is going "smoothly" and reiterated that  she expects an agreement by the summer.
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(InfoWorld) - At a global event once known for long-winded, diplomatic speeches delivered by heads of state-owned telephone companies, Viviane Reding, European Union Commissioner for Information Society and Media, was brief and blunt in her keynote speech Monday at the opening of the Telecom World conference and exhibition in Hong Kong. Speaking to a mixed audience of government officials and corporate executives, Reding said "competition drives growth -- not monopolies." Key to creating a competitive telecom market is, among other things, the development of alternative infrastructure, such as cable and wireless networks, which can compete with the public networks of entrenched incumbents, according to Reding. Regulators can play a big role in this process by supporting the development of competitive networks, she said. IP (Internet Protocol) technology is another tool regulators could use to foster competition. With platform-neutral IP, they could establish a "functional separation" between the "passive network," or underlying infrastructure consisting of cables and components, and the "active network" comprising the many different services that run on top, Reding said. A functional separation could make competition much more effective in a services-oriented environment, but such a separation would have to be done "in a careful way," she warned. Even though GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) was everything but an open global standard when the European Union initially agreed to the need to establish a pan-European mobile phone system, policy makers in Brussels have since acknowledged the need for standards to be established by the market -- and not government. Reding pointed to the current standards battle in Europe over broadcast mobile TV technology. "Several standards are fighting for the pole position," she said. But governments shouldn't decide because they could select the "wrong standard" and "lock " industry into a technology that may be inferior or commercially unattractive. Governments need to minimize regulation in the digital era, including spectrum allocation, Reding said. Many of the entry barriers in the wireless sector that exist today are bureaucratic, not technical, and governments should get rid of them as soon as possible, she said. Wrapping up her speech, Reding had a word of advice for Chinese regulators: they should participate in global telecom standards rather then favoring their own. "We are living in an open world," the Commissioner said. "Government should not be setting standards, but should be providing the legal framework to create free and open competitive standard setting." Reding's remarks mirrored the concerns of European WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) equipment makers that worry about beingÂ locked out of ChinaÂ if the government favors the homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) standard and local suppliers that support it. At present, WCDMA, which dominates Europe and huge chunks of Asia, the U.S.-supported CDMA 2000 and China's self-developed TD-SCDMA are the three potential 3G (third-generation) mobile network technology standards for China. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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LUXEMBOURG -- EU governments agreed to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad Thursday, paving the way for a cap on roaming fees later this summer.
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Cable and Wireless confirmed on Wednesday that Richard Lapthorne, chairman, could net a minimum of &pound;10m in three years&#39; time if performance targets at the telecoms group are met under a controversial pay plan.
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There is some concern that roaming fees, which are being waived until the end of the year, will later be reimposed. Ken Dulaney of Gartner does not think this is likely, however, because the agreement
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The European Union approved a law that will slash the cost of using a mobile phone throughout Europe by around 70 percent.
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ComReg report shows strong summer uptake ComReg has released its quarterly report which shows strong broadband take-up over the summer months contributed to total telecoms revenues of â¬1.06bn for the period.â¦
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Mastercard must drop fees it charges for cross-border transactions or face daily fines of 3.5 percent of daily global turnover, European Union regulators said Tuesday.
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An EU commissioner hints of regulatory action if cooperative international roaming doesn't extend from voice to data.
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Europeans are paying high prices to send cell-phone text messages or use mobile Internet services outside their own country, the EU's telecoms chief said Thursday, just months after the EU capped roaming charges for calls.
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EU governments yesterday agreed to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad, the last hurdle for a cap on roaming fees to be introduced later this summer.
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The amount consumers are charged for making mobile calls while abroad is to be investigated by EU regulators.
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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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European Union ministers adopted on  Thursday rules that will slash the price of making cell phone  calls abroad in the 27-member bloc, after a year of wrangling  and heated debate, the EU's German presidency said.
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(InfoWorld) - Mobile operators need to rethink how they price their 3G data plans to better compete with fixed-line broadband services, according to the top executive at Singaporean operator MobileOneÂ (M1). "Operators need to move forward," said Neil Montefiore, M1's chief executive officer, in a phone interview ahead of the Telecom World exhibition and conference organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Hong Kong. Last week, M1 announced plans to offer a faster 3G data service based on HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), an upgrade to WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) networks that increases download speeds from 384KbpsÂ to 3.6Mbps. That service will be available in Singapore starting Wednesday. Rather than increasing its prices with the introduction of the faster service, M1 decided to offer users of the existing service a discount. It dramatically cut the price of its 3G data plan that offers unlimited access, from S$68 (US$44) per month to S$22 per month,. In addition, M1 introduced two HSDPA data plans with unlimited access -- one offering a maximum of 1.8Mbps and another offering 3.6Mbps -- for S$38 and S$68, respectively. Mobile data services based on 3G technology are generally expensive to use, partly because operators charge for data using a per-byte or per-minute pricing model similar to voice. As a result, 3G data services primarily serve business customers who can afford the premium charges, rather than the average mobile user. "We've got to look to the future," Montefiore said. "We've got to be competitive with current fixed broadband prices." Prior to the price cut, M1 sold about 500 3G data cards each month to users who wanted mobile data access. What impact the new pricing levels will have is not yet clear, but Montefiore does not expect to see a dramatic surge in adoption. These mobile user numbers could rise, as most Singaporean broadband users are still locked into 24-month service plans for their existing broadband connections, Montefiore said. "Over time, it will be an attractive way to get online," he said, adding that M1 will offer a more detailed forecast in January when the company announces its financial results. Telecom World runs through Friday, Dec. 8.ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Or is it just a big business concern? If there is one topic that is guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of the average corporate telecoms manager, it's mobile roaming charges. The level of fees imposed by mobile operators on customers making or receiving calls when travelling internationally has been a bone of contention for many years.â¦
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The European Union set mobile phone companies a July deadline on Monday to cut their roaming charges for text messages and Internet use or face regulation.