TRAVELLERS USING their mobile phones within the EU could be allowed to choose a different network to the one they subscribe to at home under plans that would upend “roaming” rules.
Brussels is looking at ways to regulate roaming charges in an attempt to change its approach, moving away from price caps it imposed in 2007, which are due to expire in July 2012.
The proposals are part of a plan outlined by telecoms commissioner Neelie Kroes. She wants roaming charges to disappear within the EU by 2015, meaning there should be no premium to mobile phone calls made while travelling in the 27-member bloc.
In a consultation paper, the European Commission outlined the option of moving to a new framework. That could be paired with an overhaul of how operators negotiate the rates at which they carry each other’s calls, by disallowing bilateral deals between operators in favour of a “spot exchange” open to all.
The new model, if adopted, would allow customers attached to a single network at home to pick from a range of operators as they travel to other EU countries.
It would be a move away from price caps, which was a highprofile piece of regulation that resonated with consumers far more than most other EU legislation. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)
