A Fair Deal for Consumers / Mobiles (GSM Standards / Roaming Charges)

Exorbitant roaming charges used to affect at least 147 million people across the EU and a Eurobarometer public opinion poll found that 72% of UK residents wanted something done to curb high prices.

In 2006 the first set of rules to ensure roaming prices were not unjustifiably high was proposed by the Commission. Then in 2007 an agreement was made between the European Parliament and national governments which meant:

  • The cost of using mobile phones abroad cut by up to 70%
  • Calling home costing customers no more than 30p per minute*
  • Receiving a call will be no more than 10p per minute*
  • Maximum inter-operator tariff will be no more than 16p per minute*

*Excluding VAT

The price of text messaging abroad has also fallen significantly from around 25 pence to 9 pence per text following EU intervention and safeguards have been introduced to prevent consumers receiving potentially massive bill shocks for accessing the internet via a mobile whilst abroad.

  Summer 2009 Summer 2010 Summer 2011
Maximum limit for the Eurotariff for calls made abroad 35 pence 32 pence 29 pence
Maximum limit for the Eurotariff for calls received abroad 16 pence 12 pence 9 pence

All tariffs per minite and without VAT

By mid-2010 roaming charges for voice calls made and received were 46% and 55% lower respectively than before the rules came into effect, with text messaging about 60% cheaper.

The EU is also responsible for implementing the GSM standards, which ensures that your mobile handset will work with any network within the EU. GSM allows interoperability between networks, handsets and services, and the EU Standard give mobile users far more freedom abroad.

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