Roaming charges - EU move to cut costs is welcome

CONSIDERING Ireland’s love affair with the mobile phone, the excessively high charges imposed on users are a constant and justifiable cause of complaint.

So, yesterday’s move by the European Commission to cut the cost of using mobile phones while abroad by up to 70% will be loudly applauded.

While the real cost of providing the roaming service has fallen dramatically, mobile phone companies have been making enormous profits from this operation.

According to the commission, roaming charges are currently up to five times higher than the actual cost to telecom companies of providing the service.

No wonder these charges bring in about €8.6 billion annually.

The EU has granted six months’ grace to bring prices down voluntarily. If that fails, the Irish Government should not hesitate to enforce the regulation.

Of one thing we can be sure — the operators will conjure up some other way to make profits and that underlines the urgency of creating genuine competition in the mobile phone market.