EU postpones roaming cap decision

The Brussels vote on capping mobile phone roaming charges has been postponed until the next plenary session, scheduled for 21 to 24 May.

The vote was due to take place today, but negotiations between the commission, European Parliament, and council are still ongoing.

The basic concept, that the EU will cap the amount operators can charge for international roaming within the EU, is pretty much settled, but the amount at which that cap should be set is still open to debate.

Not that the proposed cap will make a huge difference to most customers. New research sponsored by VoIP provider Truphone suggests that 81 per cent of people are unsure how much it costs to make or receive calls abroad, and almost 40 per cent think that calls will still be overpriced even if they are capped.

More interestingly, 16 per cent of those surveyed will be using their phone outside the EU this year, so the cap won't reduce their costs and could even increase them as operators seek to maintain their profits. ®