Today saw the implementation of the next, and perhaps most significant phase of EU roaming legislation, as new measures came into force that place the onus firmly on mobile operators to provide total transparency to consumers about the cost of their mobile phone usage when roaming within the EU – and the ways in which they can control these costs to avoid bill shock.
The measures include an autoutomatic cut-off limit facility for data roaming at €50 (£41) per month, with the option for subscribers to set their own limit; a compulsory user notification message when users have reached 80 per cent of their pre-agreed limit; and a further reduction in the cost of making and receiving calls and accessing mobile data.
David Knox, global product marketing manager for charging at Acision, has welcomed the introduction of the new rules, noting that the new legislation puts users in control of their mobile roaming costs for the first time.
“However,” he says, “while these measures are undoubtedly a step in the right direction, it is important to bear in mind that they only apply within the EU. Attention must now be turned to addressing how to regulate roaming charges when outside the EU zone. Events such as the World Cup, attended by millions of people worldwide, highlight the need for consumer clarity on the precise costs of mobile phone usage, regardless of where in the world the user is.” 
And at DataWind, which provides wireless web access products and services, CEO Suneet S Tuli notes that with operators around the world charging between €1 and €20 per megabyte (MB) for roaming data, even at €1 per MB, with a 3G device consuming 30 – 40MB per hour, the €50 Euro limit could be reached in a little over an hour.
“In our opinion, consumers don’t really know how many megabytes they’ll need for web access and e-mail, and can’t easily judge the amount of data they’ve consumed,” says Tuli. “For this reason our roaming rates are not charged by the megabyte or gigabyte, we just charge for roaming by the minute, at 5p per minute for roaming in Europe and the US… If the EU is committed to resolving this problem, they’d be much better served by working to introduce data rates that are easier for consumers to understand.”
