INTERVIEW: EU Reding: Telcos Must Cut Data Roaming Fees More

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- European mobile phone operators must continue to cut data roaming charges and ensure customers are properly informed of them, European Union Communications Commissioner Viviane Reding said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires this week.

In September, Reding will announce her decision on whether to set a limit on charges for using mobile internet services abroad.

"On data roaming charges, prices have gone down, and when I come out in September with a decision, I will take into consideration what has been happening this summer, if it's still moving the right way or not," Reding said.

"(What we also have to do) is make sure customers are informed about the price structure (of data roaming) and to have some kind of safety net so that people who are not aware of what they're doing don't find themselves with a bill of several thousand pounds when they come back from holiday," she said.

Reding's comments follow an announcement earlier this week that the European Commission will propose E.U.-wide rules in October to force mobile phone operators to cut the cost of sending text messages from mobile phones abroad by about 70%.

Reding said the mobile phone industry had failed to demonstrate that it could regulate itself with the issue of text message roaming charges.

"I remember last summer how upset operators were when we put a cap on voice roaming charges, saying (the European Commission) shouldn't have done that as they were very much capable of bringing prices down themselves. So the commission said OK we're not setting a cap on text messages, we'll give you a year to get it done."

"The tariff for customers was 23 pence last year and 22 pence now and I'm not amused," she said.

Reding said she welcomed U.K. telecommunication company BT Group's plans to invest GBP1.5 billion in rolling out a superfast fiber-based broadband network.

"I applaud the announcement of BT because we need for the good of our societies, for the economy and citizens full high-speed networks if we want to develop our continent," she said.

But she warned that, while encouraging long-term investment, she wants to avoid the emergence of monopolies as part of the deployment of new high-speed networks.

"If you have competition you have innovation and investment. The moment you have no competition you're blocking the market. Why should a monopoly invest?"

Reding said Bulgaria, Poland, Greece, Slovakia and Romania are the worst-performing countries for the development of high-speed broadband, because of telecommunication monopolies.

-By Erica Herrero-Martinez, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9353; erica.herrero-martinez@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 18th July 2008