A new report from Tariff Consultancy (TCL) says voice and SMS roaming rates in Europe have halved between 2007 to 2010 due to an EU roaming price cap--but with very few prices applied below the cap. EU mobile roaming data rates are on average €5.4, five times the €1 per MB wholesale rate though individual operator data roaming rates vary from below the wholesale cap to more than 10 times the cap rate.
"A main constraint on roaming usage is the lack of awareness by users," comments Margrit Sessions, MD of TCL; "In our survey over the 3-year period since 2007, it is striking how little unregulated roaming services pricing has declined," says Sessions. "The user can end up paying ten times more for communication when outside the EU".
TCL has identified some 90 per cent of European mobile operators have chosen to position their EU voice roaming tariff close to the cap, which is acting as the de facto price standard. Article