EU: New roaming fees are beneficial for telecom operators

The draft law on cutting fees charged in the EU for voice roaming, which has been heavily criticised by the telecom industry’s big players, who warned it could potentially cause bankruptcy, has actually led to higher revenues for mobile telephony operators, according to Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media. “Voice traffic has seen a significant rise, and people are no longer reluctant to use mobiles phone while abroad,” added Reding, without, however, providing clear figures or statistics. According to estimates made by the regulating authorities, mobile telephony clients in Europe who use voice roaming save up to 60%, per call, following the recently imposed regulation. “Users spend 57% less when making a call, and 60% less when receiving a call,” said Peter Rodford, representative of the European Commission. Although the cuts are not as high as the 70% previously predicted by Viviane Reding, Arlene McCarthy, Chair of the Committee on Internal Market within the EU, specified that the new regulations have a positive effect on the industry, and that their implementation is going fast.