Costly foreign calls – can anything be done?

As anyone who has ever made telephone calls on holiday or on a business trip will know - the bill when it arrives can often be very costly. In fact these 'roaming' charges are roughly four times higher than domestic ones. Reducing them is the subject of a new European Commission regulation discussed on 23 January 2007 at a hearing in the European Parliament. The aim is ambitious: to reduce the cost of using a mobile abroad by up 70% and force companies to give consumers more information on their charges.

European Parliament: Hearings http://www.europarl.europa.eu/hearings/default_en.htm

European Parliament: Briefing Report: Technical Issues on Roaming. Transparency, Technical Aspects and Data Overview related to the Proposed Regulaton on Roaming, January 2007 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/itre/pe382177_en.pdf

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