East Midlands MEP welcomes EU proposal to cut roaming charges

1.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 29th Mar 2006

East Midlands Liberal Democrat MEP Bill Newton Dunn welcomed proposals, expected in June, from the European Commission to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad.

"The high cost of receiving or calling from a mobile phone abroad have burnt a hole in users' pockets for far too long. Consumers and businesses are paying ridiculously high prices for using their mobile phones on the continent"

"The Commission's proposal will be for a 'single market', rather than 25 separate national telephone markets. Operators would not be allowed to charge an international roaming cost inside the EU. A mobile phone user would only be charged the price that he is paying in his country of residence. The cost of international connections is insignificant. It is curious that competition between mobile phone operators has not reduced roaming charges one jot ."

The European Commission has a website which informs the public about the prices of roaming when using their mobile phone abroad at:

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/roaming/index_en.htm