Posts Tagged ‘Viviane Reding’

It’s official: European Union telecom leaders officially endorsed a plan introduced by EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding to cap mobile data retail prices, FierceMobileContent reports.

In July 2009, pending the expected approval of European Parliament, all 27 EU member nations will adopt a limit of 11 euro cents (14 cents U.S.) on retail charges for cross-border texting, which is a substantial cut on the current European average of 29 euro cents (36 cents U.S.), the report said, in a move that is obviously good for wireless subscribers in the region.

In addition, the plan includes a cap of one euro per megabyte ($1.26 U.S.) for data roaming, with a switchable shutoff valve if the charges exceed 50 euros ($63.10). As expected, European mobile operators “fought tooth and nail against Reding’s proposal,” according to the article.

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The New York Times is reporting that the European Union’s telecommunications minister will soon propose price controls that would reduce roaming fees for sending text messages, along with limits that could reduce the cost of accessing the Internet via cell phones.

Viviane Reding, the telecommunications minister, will seek to cap retail roaming fees for SMS texting within the European Union at 11 euro cents, or 16 American cents, per message. The report said that the new proposal represents a 62 percent reduction in current fees. As for accessing the Internet, Reding’s proposal would halve the average current cost to one euro per megabyte.

“SMS prices are really too high, so bringing them down is best thing that can happen for consumers,” said Monique Goyens, the director general of the Brussels-based European Consumers’ Organization, which represents 41 consumer groups, in the report.

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An EU source has told Reuters that text messages sent by cell phone users when they are outside their home state in the European Union will drop 70 percent under a new proposal.

EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding “will outline plans on Tuesday that include extending price caps on roamed voice calls for another three years,” according to the report. Reding introduced price caps on roaming voice calls last year, which has proven to be one of the city’s most popular policies in recent memory.

The report said that a formal legislative proposal will be made in the autumn and could come into force by the summer of 2009. Roaming text messages are a huge market—they alone account for 2.5 billion messages per year.