THE COST of sending mobile phone texts when overseas is set to fall by up to two-thirds after the European Commission said it would force operators to drop tariffs.
A year after cutting the cost of calling from mobile phones while abroad, the commission is targeting high charges for sending mobile phone messages from another country.
Texting from an Irish mobile abroad costs 29-39 cent for each message, but the commission wants to cap prices at 11-15 cent a message.
Commission president José Manuel Barroso said yesterday new laws capping roaming texting rates would be introduced in October. This follows the failure of the phone companies to drop their charges voluntarily.
Some 2.5 billion roaming text messages are sent every year by mobile users moving around the EU, which can cost more than 10 times as much as texting at home.
The average cost of a roaming text message in the EU is 29 cent but tariffs can be as high as 80 cent in Belgium. Texts sent within Ireland typically cost 11 cent, though the price varies according to the subscriber package.
"EU citizens should be free to text across borders without being ripped off," said EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding, who said her "long-term goal" was to reduce the cost of roaming texts to 4.2 cent. "Roaming charges have already drained the wallets of mobile customers too much, especially the 77 per cent of young people who send texts while using their mobile abroad."
Responding to the commission proposals, O2 Ireland insisted its roaming rates were competitive and said it was free to receive a text while abroad.
"O2 would argue that there is already effective competition for retail and wholesale text roaming services in Europe which is resulting in costs falling, driven by market forces," a spokeswoman said.
Ms Reding added that the commission would also address the issue of data roaming, such as surfing on the internet, which was still "heavily overpriced". Prices for data services while roaming range from 25 cent per megabyte to more than € 16 per megabyte.
The average cost of data roaming is € 4.98 per megabyte; on average, a consumer pays € 15 to download a song while roaming, € 10 to download a PowerPoint presentation and € 1-€2 to download a single newspaper article.
Data roaming costs charged by Irish operators vary hugely. Vodafone charges 29-35 cent per megabyte, O2 90 cent and Meteor € 12.80-€ 30.72.
The commission said high wholesale rates prevent smaller operators from offering more competitive data packages.
Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan said the intervention was overdue. "Regulation is now needed, because credible price reductions have not been introduced for the cost of roaming text messaging by the telecoms sector in Europe."
TEXT ROAMING: what it costs
What you pay now (per message)
Vodafone29 cent
O229 cent
Meteor30-39 cent
335 cent
What you'll pay after the EU Commission caps charges
11-15 cent per message
What it costs the overseas phone company to allow an Irish e-mail to use its network
0.8 cent per message
