The European Commission has introduced new measures aimed at reducing the costs incurred by telecommunications users when making calls, sending SMS messages, or surfing the Internet in other Union member states (roaming).
According to the proposal put forward by Commissioners Viviane Reding and Meglena Kuneva, roaming prices for voice calls will be capped until 2013 and will be closer to the actual costs of calls. Each user will automatically receive an SMS message with a list of roaming prices, and after the first 30 seconds of a call, billing will be done per second. Previously, billing could also be done per minute. For SMS roaming (receiving or sending text messages abroad), the user will also receive an SMS message with the price of sending each message, which cannot exceed 11 euro cents (approximately 80 lipa) per message. Data transmission via mobile phones or computers (Internet) will also be regulated.
At the start of roaming, the user will receive a message with prices and will be able to respond with the desired spending limit. When approaching the desired limit (for example, 100 euros), the user will receive a notification, and when it is exceeded, the connection will be automatically terminated. This measure is set to be implemented by 2010. From the following year, a price of 1 euro for 1 MB of traffic will be applied as the upper allowed limit. The director of the European Consumer Protection Association, Monique Goyens, has rated the measures as positive but added that some minor adjustments are necessary before they are finalized. The proposed measures must be adopted by the European Parliament, and the first real results are expected to be seen in the tourist season of 2009. (H. M.)
