Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-21-Speech-2-121"
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"en.20090421.18.2-121"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner Reding, ladies and gentlemen, it is rare for a liberal to promote intervention in the market through regulating prices, even if it only involves setting a maximum limit. However, in the case of mobile phone roaming tariffs, this action is necessary, and can only be carried out collectively, at European Union level. It is necessary because excessively high tariffs are raising obstacles preventing the freedom of movement and communication between Europe’s citizens. Removing these obstacles is one of the European Union’s fundamental objectives and one of my personal objectives as an MEP. This is why I have assumed the responsibility of being the rapporteur for this regulation, as well as for the European Parliament report adopted at the beginning of the month concerning the administrative and legal barriers raised by Member States preventing the freedom of movement of European citizens.
The current regulation is necessary, for instance, for small businessmen on a business trip who need to speak to colleagues at home to resolve a problem. It is important for journalists sending a news report via email directly from the scene of the event. It is also important for young people sending text messages to their boyfriends and girlfriends. Finally, it is important for workers abroad wanting to hear their children’s voice on the phone. All these European citizens have paid and are still frequently paying three or four times more to use a mobile phone, simply because they are a couple of miles away from their own country, even though they are within the Community’s borders.
Thanks to the regulation which we are going to adopt tomorrow, excessive prices will be eliminated. The maximum limits set by the regulation still allow operators to achieve a considerable profit margin and to compete while offering lower prices. We are faced with a complex problem linked to the fragmentation and operation of the mobile phone market in Europe.
When consumers come to choose a mobile phone operator, they look first and foremost at national charges or the price offered for a new mobile phone make, but scrutinise less the roaming charges. When they cross the border into another EU Member State, they are subject to these roaming charges, even when they are only receiving calls. The only option for consumers is to choose not to communicate by mobile phone. Competition among operators does not work from this perspective. The actual operator from the country of origin must pay the operator from the network being visited for carrying the signal.
Some countries, such as tourist destinations, receive large numbers of visitors during a short period of time, while others have more citizens travelling abroad. This means that there is an imbalance between supply and demand, hence the reason for the high gross tariffs even among operators. Furthermore, in some countries the cost of installing and operating mobile phone networks is higher. In addition, smaller operators or new operators who have joined the market have shown that they are often subject to discriminatory prices from large pan-European operators. Ultimately, it is always the consumer who pays.
The regulation which we are going to adopt tomorrow is a short-term solution. We cannot regulate prices indefinitely, as this affects innovation and may even affect competitiveness. This is why the regulation stipulates that the European Commission must analyse different means of regulating the market. Some of these means are even suggested by the regulation. In two or three years we will be able to debate more options when we have more information available to us. I hope that we will then be able to implement a legislative framework for having competitive roaming tariffs in the long term.
Apart from this aspect, Parliament has improved the regulation, in my view, from many perspectives. We have reduced the maximum gross roaming tariffs for transferring data to 50 cents per megabyte in order to encourage the use of this service and proper competition in the sector. We have made guidelines more transparent on advising customers about roaming mobile Internet access. We have also made the provisions intended to limit monthly bills for roaming data transfer to EUR 50 significantly more flexible for anyone wanting this feature. Text messages charged on a roaming tariff, which are sent once the consumer enters a foreign network, will also include a reference to the unique emergency number 112. We have reduced the maximum tariffs for calls received and made, while maintaining a profit margin for operators. We have also banned operators who continue the practice of charging customers abroad for someone simply leaving a voice mail for them.
I would like to end by thanking for all their efforts during such a short period of time my fellow Members from the other political groups, Commissioner Reding and her staff, Ambassador Reinišová and representatives of the Czech and French presidencies, the Council, and not forgetting our own staff in the European Parliament, all working together so that millions of citizens can enjoy acceptable roaming tariffs this summer."@en1
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