On 12 October, 2001 Michael Turner wrote:
"If the EU is litigating
on roaming, on behalf of European consumer interests, I'm sure
all parties will find at least one point of agreement: it's OK to
make as much money as possible from non-EU citizens, with taxes
not being an option. That leaves service charges."
As far as roaming into EU networks are concerned, there are very clear
guideline as to what the mark-ups from the visited networks may be as
indicated and agreed by the GSM association partners. The problem is not the
mark-up or service fee of the visited network, which by the way is quite
fair and certainly not overpriced, but the additional mark-ups added by the
home network and it's retail channel. So, for the non-EU citizens, it is not
the EU networks that is making as much money possible from the non-EU
visitors, it is the non-EU visitors home networks making as much as possible
from them. That is why competition is needed back home in order to bring the
roaming prices down. Unless there is competition in the home networks for
roaming services, the subscribers will suffer the consequences unless the
regulatory authority intervenes.
Maria
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Received on Mon Oct 15 14:56:28 2001