Mobile cost disparities in EU

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: The cost of making mobile phone calls remains a national lottery, up to eight times higher in the most expensive EU countries compared with the cheapest ones, the European Commission said on Tuesday (6 August).

The European Union executive, credited with bringing down high roaming rates over recent years, said the differences in prices were impossible to justify and it would bring forward fresh legislation to prevent these disparities by September.

EU data compiled for Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes showed that the average cost per minute for national mobile calls in 2011 varied from 1.9c (euro cents) in Lithuania, to 14.7c in The Netherlands.

Among the biggest national markets, the difference is also flagrant, the Commission figures showed.

It costs just 6.9c to place a national mobile call in Italy and 8.8c in the EU's biggest country, Germany.

That's broadly in line with the 9.7c across Britain, while France charges, on average, 12.7c and Spain 13.3c.

According to Kroes' office, such price differentials do not show up in other product or service markets.

A litre of milk, for instance, is usually under one euro no matter where it is bought in the EU, while the price of an iPad hardly varies at all.

"As these numbers clearly show, the 28 national telecommunications markets in Europe today are not benefiting consumers like a single market should," Kroes said.

She said a truly connected continent would require rapid action to turn the EU's fabled single market of half a billion consumers, the world's biggest, into a reality for individuals and households.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge