Europe Moving To Reduce Wireless Roaming Charges by David Gardner
European Union lawmakers moved the put an end to mobile phone "bill shock" Wednesday by mandating price limits on text messages and voice calls that are scheduled to go into effect in time for the summer tourist season. The biggest cuts will be for text messages. Mobile handset users will pay a maximum price of 11 euro cents (14 U.S. cents) for a text message -- a reduction from the current ceiling of 36 U.S. cents. Carriers will still be permitted to charge what they want, provided the price is under the ceiling."Today's vote marks the definite end of the roaming rip-off in Europe," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding, who has championed the drive for more uniform lower wireless messaging rates in Europe. She had complained for months that Europe's mobile industry didn't understand that credible prices were necessary to avoid regulation.
At the same time, the EU Parliament lawmakers approved a data-downloading measure with a ceiling of 1 euro per megabyte versus the current charge of 1.68 euros. The older pricing schedules have resulted in some countries' carriers charging nearly twice as much as other countries. The texting measure also calls for customers to be billed by the second after the first 30 seconds versus the current practice of charging by the second after the first minute of use.
Note EU-Digest: These are the benefits of being part of the EU. Good job Viviane Reding !!
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