Press Release: ‘Texting without borders’: Commission plans ending roaming rip-offs for text messages abroad

The 2.5 billion text messages sent every year by roaming customers in the EU cost over 10 times more than domestic short messages (SMS), according to figures released on 15 July, 2008, by the European Commission. The average cost of a roaming text message in the EU between October 2007 and March 2008 was €0.29 according to the European Regulators’ Group (ERG), but can be as high as €0.80 for travellers from Belgium. Calls on the industry for self-regulation and voluntary reductions of roaming prices for text messages have not been answered. The Commission will therefore start working on measures to ensure that consumers benefit from a truly single market for mobile text services. The Commission will also seek to put an end to 'bill shocks' that can hit roaming customers using a mobile connection to surf the Internet. New measures could be proposed by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council in early autumn.

European Commission: MEMO/08/505: Roaming: High Prices of SMS & Data Services http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/505&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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