EU regulators warned Thursday that they may take action against mobile phone companies who overcharge users for calls made abroad.
EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said some European phone operators are fixing roaming fees by the minute instead of by each second of a call.
On average, users pay 24 percent more for calls they make outside their home nation and 19 percent more for calls they receive, he said.
Selmayr said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding “may tackle this issue” in draft rules to be presented at the end of September.
The EU last year capped the costs of mobile phone calls made and received in other EU countries but criticized operators for not making deeper cuts to average retail prices.
From Aug. 30, the cap will fall again from EU0.49 to EU0.46 (US$0.72 to US$0.68) for calls made and from EU0.24 to EU0.22 (US$0.35 to US$0.32) for calls received. These prices do not include value-added tax, which is levied at different rates in each of the EU’s 27 nations.
Regulators claim the EU move has brought real savings for customers as average prices have crashed from EU1.15 (US$1.70) per minute in 2006.
But telecoms companies dispute the EU’s claims that they generate unjustified profits from roaming charges, saying some are making losses that will hurt investment in new technology and that lower fees have not encouraged travelers to use their phone abroad.
Cheered by the success of slashing call costs for travelers, the European Commission is now threatening to impose a cap on roaming fees for text messages, saying it wants prices to drop by up to 70 percent.
EU residents abroad send some 2.5 billion text messages every year, paying 10 times more than they do at home.
The commission is also warning that it may take action on “heavily overpriced” mobile Internet fees if companies do not…