EU roaming charges drop by up to 90%

IRELAND has gone from being one of the most expensive countries in the EU to one of the cheapest for making and receiving mobile calls abroad.

A mere two months after the European Commission introduced a compulsory euro tariff, roaming charges have fallen drastically throughout the 27 member states.

The cut in average prices in Ireland has been dramatic, with prices slashed by more than 75% for calls home and by up to 90% for taking calls from home when in another EU country.

However, the country’s largest provider, O2, has increased its charges by one cent for a four-minute call and is charging the same as Meteor and Vodafone. The cheapest across the board is 3, charging almost a third less than its larger rivals.

Commissioner Vivenne Redding, responsible for forcing the telecom companies to reduce prices, said the legislation had proved to be very effective.

There will be further reductions next year, she said, with plans to cut the cost of SMS and data roaming.

“Costs have been cut for consumers and it seems like there is more good news in store as telecom companies are showing signs of competing with one another and are now lowering their prices below those that we set in July,” said Ms Redding.

According to her study there are 400 million mobile phone subscribers in the EU — close to the full number of phones in operation — now on the euro tariff that all companies were forced to give their subscribers from August.

Ireland is now one of the cheapest for roaming in the EU, according to the study. The cheapest calls can be found in the Netherlands at 20 cents both for calls made and received, Britain at 31.57 cents for calls made and 12.63 cents for calls received, while in Ireland the cost is 32.23 cents for calls made and 15.70 cents for calls received.

Just a year ago the same calls cost €9.68 when calling home from Malta, and for the other countries charges varied from €5.36 to €2.36 for four minutes.

Throughout the EU, the cost of making a call home while abroad has dropped from €1.10 on average to €0.49 on average, a reduction of more than 57%.

The maximum euro tariff for making a call home falls to 46 cents in 2008 and to 43 cents in 2009.

When receiving a call, the price has fallen from 58 cents on average in the EU to 24 cents on average — a saving of over 60% on average.

This falls to 22 cents in 2008 and to 19 cents in 2009.