Press Release: Roaming: Consumer prices now reduced by 60%

Consumers in the European Union have been paying up to 60% less for using their mobile phone abroad since summer 2007. The transition to the Eurotarrif by Europe's mobile phone operators is proceeding according to plan. This is the result of a study carried out by the 27 national telecom regulators – united in the European Regulators Group (ERG) – in collaboration with the European Commission. Mobile operators have generally complied with the requirements to introduce, offer, and make available a "Eurotariff" (tariffs no higher than 49 eurocents per minute for calls made abroad and no higher than 24 eurocents for calls received abroad, excluding VAT) for all their roaming customers from 30 July. By 30 August, around 200 million EU consumers had already switched to the Eurotariff. Many operators moved faster than legally required and activated the Eurotariff in July or in August. The ERG study also shows that operators are generally on track to implement the new transparency provisions introduced by the EU Roaming Regulation.