| REALLY cheaper roaming rates in the EU by next Summer
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Saturday, 14 April 2007
In the last few weeks, Vodafone and Go Mobile announced cheaper roaming
rates. Maltameter considered this as marketing and PR crap, and didn't bother publish
an article on these developments. Why? Because we knew we'll have
something bigger to offer you in a matter of days.
We have been following the developments in mobile roaming rates within
the EU for quite a long time, and everything appeared from the start
that the EU will eventually force the mobile operators to push their
roaming prices much lower than what they are at the moment. As one can
imagine, almost all operators were against such price cuts from the
start. On Thursday, 12th April, the European Parliament's Industry,
Research and Energy (ITRE) voted in favour of a final decision to force
a price cap on roaming rates. The price caps are to be set at €0.40 for
outgoing, and €0.15 for incoming calls, exc. VAT. That means only up to
20c3 to make a call and 7c6 to receive one when you're in another EU
country (prices in Maltese Lira with 18% VAT)... not much worse than a
local call when you're in Malta!
ITRE is hoping to get these rates enforced by next Summer, however,
more work has yet to be done. This includes a final vote by the EU
Parliament which is to be taken on the plenary meeting on 10th May, and
a meeting between the national telecom ministers on 7th June.
Link:
European Commission news article
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 14 April 2007 ) |
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