EU backs cap on roaming

The EU Assembly Industry Committee has voted in favour of a cap of 40 Euro cents per minute for outgoing and 15 Euro cents per minute for incoming calls in a bid to reduce the cost of mobile 'roaming'.

This proposal will now go before the full EU Assembly of 785 members in May.

James Stewart, Associate Partner for Client Services (Telecom), Fair Isaac said: "A reduction in charges should result in more people making calls while roaming. As operators see revenues from roaming decline they will want to redress the balance by encouraging more people to roam. Hence they need to reduce barriers to roaming. They can only reduce barriers if they can control the risks, which means robust measures to reduce fraud."

Fergus O'Reilly, VP Product Strategy at Highdeal said: "Mobile operators have had a hard time believing that the roaming cash cow might come to an end. But those with the most foresight are already moving to lower not only voice roaming fees but also data fees and some are introducing business packages with "no borders" options. Low roaming charges means that business travellers and tourists will no longer think twice before using their phone abroad and overall roaming usage might well skyrocket. That in turn might convince operators to become more creative with their tariff structures and take more risks with the ultimate cash cow: core voice charges."