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  • EU wants to cap roaming fees for text messages; The iPhone 3G, will it blend?

    > European Union Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said she wanted to see roaming fees for text messages fall by up to 70 percent. She said she will put forward rules in October to cap charges. Article > U.K. proposes 7 years in prison for sending text messages while driving. Article > Verizon Wireless is publicly advocating the "Cell Tax Fairness Act," sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The proposed legislation would restrict state and local governments from imposing a new discriminatory tax on mobile phone services for five years and is also supported by CTIA. The legislation was introduced on April 15. Release And Finally... The new iPhone is destroyed in a blender. See the action here .

  • EU seeks to slash texting costs by more than half

    EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding has outlined plans to cut the costs of cross-border text messages by more than 50 percent. According to the EU proposal, cross-border text fees will drop from their current 29 cents (46 cents U.S.) to between 11 and 15 cents (17 to 23 cents U.S.). The legislation is expected to be introduced in October and may come into law as early as summer 2009. Reding had previously instituted a July 1 deadline for operators to either cut costs of their own accord or face legislative restrictions. She argues the 2.5 billion text messages sent annually by customers roaming in EU member states cost more than 10 times the amount spent to send a message locally. The Commission has also said it will seek an end to "bill shock" by calling for greater transparency on mobile web roaming fees. Europe's mobile operators are vehemently opposed to the legislation, warning that regulation is limiting their capital spending and profit margins. The GSM Association global trade body says carriers' capital spending has already fallen from 13 percent of revenues in 2005 to 11 percent a year ago and could fall even further, arguing the drop contradicts Reding's claim that roaming services are a source of excessive profits. The GSMA adds that some operators have already made substantial cuts to their data roaming fees, with T-Mobile UK slashing charges by 80 percent and Vodafone cutting its price per megabyte by 45 percent. For more on the EU proposal: - read this TimesOnline article Related articles: EU to launch investigation into ringtone sites EU launches inquiry into mobile data roaming fee

  • Euro operators fight data pricing cap proposal

    Europe's mobile operators are gearing up to make a last-ditch push against the EU's proposed pricing cap on cross-border text messages and data downloads, warning that regulation is limiting their capital spending and profit margins. EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding instituted a July 1 deadline for operators to either cut the cost of cross-border text messaging or face legislative restrictions, seeking to bring down consumer costs as much as 70 percent from their current levels. But the GSM Association global trade body says carriers' capital spending has already fallen from 13 percent of revenues in 2005 to 11 percent a year ago and could fall even further, arguing the drop contradicts Reding's claim that roaming services are a source of excessive profits. The GSMA adds that some operators have already made substantial cuts to their data roaming fees, with T-Mobile UK slashing charges by 80 percent and Vodafone cutting its price per megabyte by 45 percent. According to The Guardian , only 64 of 95 operators responded to a letter mailed by Reding last month asking executives to make public details of their retail roaming prices and confidential information on wholesale charges--some carriers said they would require months to provide those details. For more on the data pricing controversy: - read this Guardian article Related articles: European operators cut data roaming charges EU : Harmonize mobile TV rules, regulation

  • EU seeks to slash cross-border mobile data pricing

    The European Union reiterated its July 1 deadline for the mobile industry to either cut the cost of cross-border text messaging or face legislative restrictions--in addition, EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding said legislators will regulate the wholesale tariffs charged by operators for cross-network calls, arguing the current system distorts competition between carriers and results in consumers paying too much. According to the EU, the average cost of a text message within national borders is between 5 and 10 euro cents (about 8 to 15 cents in the U.S.), but the average cost of sending one abroad is 28 euro cents (43 U.S. cents). Between her efforts to harmonize both text and voice termination prices, Reding is seeking to bring down consumer costs as much as 70 percent from their current levels. Needless to say, European operators are resisting regulatory intervention: "The industry is competitive, the prices are coming down, the consumer satisfaction levels are very high and the whole market is very innovative and moving very quickly," said the GSM Association's chief regulatory affairs officer Tom Phillips in an interview with Associated Press Television News. "Now is not the right time to get the bureaucracy of Brussels involved in setting retail prices." For more on the EU mobile legislation: - read this Associated Press article Related articles: European operators cut data roaming charges EU : Harmonize mobile TV rules, regulation

  • EC To Call For EU-Wide Mobile TV Next Week; Annoys Telcos

    EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has been making noises about how the mobile industry should adopt an EU-wide standard for mobile TV for a while, and the move is gathering steam with The Guardian reporting that she plans to " next week call for a EU-wide approach to mobile TV , singling out a Nokia-backed broadcast standard as a possible candidate for wide-scale adoption". I'm not entirely sure how the EU political process works, but a similar move ensured GSM was the standard mobile system across Europe. Some mobile TV networks have already been launched, of course, and The Guardian notes that Virgin Mobile in the UK has already launched a DAB service while BSkyB seems keen on MediaFLO. Some satellite operators are developing a service in the S-Band and there's a DMB network in Germany . If a single standard is passed it will have to be DVB-H because it has both the highest number of deployments and the greatest number of uses (mostly in Italy). The big question will be spectrum—if the EU mandates carriers to offer DVB-H services, will it also pressure the governments to make the corresponding spectrum available? Related Reding Wants DVB-H Approved By EU FLO Forum Campaigns For Tech Neutrality In Europe
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