EC calls for end to roaming charges

Following in the footsteps of her predecessor, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, on Thursday blasted roaming costs as an “outdated concept”.

With that view in mind, Kroes then proposed that the creation of a single market within the 27-member bloc would require the gap between roaming and domestic prices to approach zero.

“A true digital market is a market where effective competition ensures that citizens, customers and businesses do not experience substantially different services or costs when they pass a border,” Kroes said.

Informa Telecoms & Media believes Europe is an important market for roaming services, with the largest number of roaming users worldwide. This region needs to connect a significant number of different countries and cultures, which makes it a leader in terms of innovative business models, regulation and technology.

Informa found that Western Europe will remain the largest roaming market delivering approximately 41 per cent of roaming revenues by 2015, followed by Asia Pacific with approximately 18 per cent and North America with approximately 10 per cent.