No cost relief for mobile users by the border

MOBILE phone users caught by roaming charges in the Border counties will get no immediate relief from exorbitant bills after ministerial talks with the phone companies ended only with agreement that further talks will take place.

Minister for Communications, Noel Dempsey, insisted, however, that the meeting was a “significant step” and said he had asked for a progress report to be sent to him by the end of December.

Mr Dempsey met with his Northern Ireland counterpart, Angela Smyth; representatives of Irish and British mobile phone companies, and the telecommunications regulators for both territories in London yesterday to discuss the problem.