The French population is beginning to complain loudly about increasing inflation, claims the French consumer goods minister, who has reacted by asking the country's three main operators--Orange, SFR and Bouygues, to cut SMS prices that have only fallen slightly over the past four years.
The minister, Luc Chatel, has urged the three operators to be aware of the problem faced by French consumers, and has invited them to make an example by cutting the cost of text messages.
The national regulator, Arcep, has provided support to Chatel's call by stating that French consumers on pay-as-you-go phones pay an average cost of €0.12 per text. This price has remained nearly constant since 2004 while the volume of texts has doubled in this period. Of interest are the prices of SMS from France's MVNOs that cost around 25-30 per cent less than from the three main operators. This 'consumer-pleasing' initiative by Chatel comes only days after the EU announced a proposal to slash by roughly two thirds the cost of text messages for people travelling between EU countries.
For more on this story:
- go to MoCo News
Related stories:
EU to impose heavy cuts to SMS roaming charges. EU SMS story
GSMA Responds To EU Proposals To Regulate Roaming Costs For Text Messaging. GSMA story