EU says roaming case is soooo last month
Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile escape anti-trust fines
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Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile will likely breathe a sigh of relief today after European Union anti-trust authorities decided to close their long-running investigation into alleged excessive charges for international calls.
The European commission confirmed yesterday that it will take no further action over formal charges it issued in 2004 and 2005 against Vodafone UK and Germany, T-Mobile Germany, and O2 UK, the Financial Times reports.
The three mobile telecom giants had been accused of abusing their dominant market position by imposing high fees on customers roaming on their networks while travelling abroad.
Brussels had expressed particular concern over wholesale rates charged in the UK and Germany.
EU competition watchdogs typically conclude such a lengthy investigation either by slapping a fine on a company or agreeing to a settlement.
Last month, however, Brussels secured a new EU law that forces mobile phone companies to cap international call tariffs. As a result, the EU competition commissioner concluded that there was no longer any point in pursuing the anti-trust case.
In the run up to its introduction, mobile operators had bitterly opposed the legislation on roaming fees. But it is a move that has been widely welcomed by customers sick of being hit by excessive mobile phone charges while sipping pina coladas on their hols. ®
COMMENTS
OFCOMS conversion rate of euro roaming charges
Anyone out there noticed the exchange rate Ofcom is applying to the new maximium roaming charges, it makes an airport Bureau de Change generous.
49cents according to ofcom is 38 pence....1.289... worse way it should be 34 pence.Similar situation with the 24 cent recieving charge. Now I do not know the amount of volume there is between UK and Europe but it would appear 10 % of it is extra profit for the mobile phone operators. Nice to know OFCOM still are keeping the title of Rip Off UK alive.
passport from vodafone, picking up voice mail
I think I can beat everyone in excess charges, Vodafone charge £1.50 if you are unwise enough to press the recieve button when ther voicemail calls you to tell you you have a message. I have regularly been charged this for 1 second call. Vodafone say ... up to 4 th level of complaints protocol... I am recieving a call and making one.... in one second ! How have they got away with this for so long?
Ouch
Sounds like the UK is paying quite a bit more for roaming than most of Europe. On the other hand, last time I checked the prices for an account for a GSM modem Vodafone UK was the cheapest I could find with a WORLDWIDE rate of something like £45 for 'unlimited' use, in reality it was limited to around 1GB a month but connected 24/7 was OK. Couldnt find anything in the small print to suggest the worldwide rate was anything other than genuine.
Cheers
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