EU will claim a significant public backing to force cell phone operators to curb roaming charges.
A vast majority of EU (European Union) citizens want EU to carry necessary actions to reduce roaming charges imposed by mobile operators on travelers who use their cell phones while they are abroad, announced EU on November 06 2006 in news published by Reuters.
Around three-fourths of the citizens want EU to curb the roaming costs, as per a EU poll, 68% of cell phone users would encourage European-level involvement to limit roaming costs for SMS service, with percentage increasing to 78 for young cell phone users aged between 15 & 24.
EU said on an average, roaming charges were 4 times more than domestic mobile phone call charges, with a 4 minute roaming phone call costing as high as US$ 15 (Euro 12), depending on countries concerned.
There were 24,565 people in 25 member states of EU who responded to Eurobarometer survey carried out in September 2006. As per Commission, EU international roaming market is worth US$ 8.5 Billion (Euro 8.5 Billion) per year, accounting to 5.7% of total revenues for the sector. Proposed revisions would cut down costs by US$ 6.35 Billion (Euro 5 Billion) per year.
"European cell phone operators make around 10% of the total sales from roaming charges, so its quite natural that they are defending their decision to not curb the roaming costs," said an analyst at RNCOS, author of the report "Europe Mobile Handset Market Analysis (2007)".
GSM Association, the major mobile industry group, has blamed EU of not following its own rules by not succeeding to consult correctly on the proposed regulation & producing a sloppy impact assessment.
Cell phone operators are arguing that they're already cutting down roaming charges. Deutsche Telekom & Vodafone have already unveiled their plans to curb roaming costs & Telefonica of Spain have announced to offer free of cost incoming calls for its subscribers traveling anywhere in Europe.
Related Market Research Reports:
European Mobile Market Scenario to 2012
3G Market Outlook (2007-2010)
Changing Faces of The Global Mobile Handset Market (2007)
