Aaron Powers, Head of Business Development at Vyke, the VoIP mobile supplier, explains why he believes that EU regulation of mobile roaming fees is the best thing that could happen to a mobile operator

The GSMA, the global trade association representing more than 750 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 territories, recently released data showing that a 25% decrease in data roaming costs between April 2007 and April 2008 increased consumer usage by 75% (a price/demand elasticity that virtually any other industry should covet). So why exactly are these same mobile operators grumbling about an EU mandated cut in roaming data charges?
Every shareholder in Vodafone, O2 et al. should be forming a picket line in Brussels in support of mobile roaming fee caps. While this may sound counter-intuitive, the overwhelming majority of mobile operators have failed at developing their business strategies in response to market evolution. They have failed to address the growing penetration rates of Smartphones, failed to address the growing popularity of mobile software and services that utilize the mobile data channel and, as a result, they have failed to address the growing demand for mobile data access at reasonable prices. Since these market factors have gone unaddressed, and since they dont seem to pay attention to their own statistics, the threatened EU regulation could just be the medicine that this industry needs. 

The crutch of the matter
Mobile operators have a spectacular two-pronged crutch voice and SMS. These provide the overwhelming majority of revenues for mobile operators located in the EU. For Vodafone, for instance, these totaled over 87% of its revenues for the year ended March 31, 2008. However, these are also the services that will be the first to be cannibalized by new technologies such as peer-to-peer messaging and mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
The immediate implication is that established mobile operators are facing a growing direct attack on their revenues. What the mobile operators need to do is cast off their crutch and start innovating according to consumer demand. This means encouraging mobile data use, enabling third-party mobile service and content providers and, finally, stop charging so much for the connectivity that it kills any good idea before it starts.