TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY ONLINE

Telecommunications Policy
The International Journal on Knowledge Infrastructure Development, Management and Regulation 
Volume 24, No. 11 (December 2000)

POLICY FORUM ONLINE


INTERNATIONAL ROAMING CHARGES: 
OVERCHARGING AND COMPETITION LAW 


Ewan Sutherland1
International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG)
ewan@intug.net

Back to Vol. 24, No. 11 (December 2000)


 Abstract
International roaming is a major technical achievement of the GSM standard. Initially users were impressed by the technical facility that a mobile phone would work initially across the European Union (EU) and in many other countries, and with a tri-band phone, in North America. Estimates of the market size at the end of 1999 were in the range of US$ 1,000 million, with continuing rapid growth. However, users quickly realised that the costs of international roaming were far higher than could be justified. At a time when fixed telecommunications costs and prices were falling, the prices for mobile roaming were spiralling out of control. The response from user organizations has been to withdraw phones, to forbid their use abroad and to encourage alternatives, such as phone-cards and visits to local offices. A series of surveys by INTUG in 1999 and 2000 gathered comparative data on international roaming charges in Europe. The results showed price variances of two to ten times for the same or a similar call. This data has attracted the interest of the Competition Directorate-General of the European Commission and a formal investigation has been initiated. A decision is expected in late-2000, which could have influence outside the EU, since the principles of competition law, and the terms of international roaming agreements are similar around the world. The indications are that the complexity of the charges, the backroom negotiations and other factors demonstrate that this is very far from being a competitive market. As the GSM Association begins to create a Global Roaming Forum to prepare for 3G (UMTS) roaming, it is clear that a more open and competitive regime is essential if the prices are to be driven down to reasonable levels. That in turn is necessary if we are to see the innovations in uses necessary for the next stage of the development of the mobile telecommunications industry and mobile-Internet convergence.

Keywords: Mobile, GSM, 3G Mobile, roaming, INTUG, pricing

Introduction

Since the late 1990s users of mobile telecommunications have been concerned by the apparently arbitrary and invariably complicated charges for international roaming. GSM operators make little effort to inform their customers of the charges they will incur when abroad. Checking the accuracy of bills from published information ranges from the difficult to the impossible. The charges seem to have no relationship to the underlying costs, to best practice or to other telecommunications charges. Coverage is also incomplete, with problems moving from the GSM networks to others, notably in the USA, Japan, South Korea and parts of South America.

The International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG) comprises national associations of telecommunications users, large corporate users and individuals interested in telecommunications such as academics, consultants and lawyers. One its activities has been to undertake surveys of charges for the use of telecommunications services, such as the cost of international versus national leased lines and more recently in broadband local access.2 In late 1998 INTUG began to examine international roaming prices and then undertook formal surveys in 1999 and 2000.

GSM roaming services were originally and remain today very attractive to business users. This emulated the success and the attractiveness of roaming on the earlier Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system used in Scandinavia. Business subscribers bought mobile telephones expecting to use this feature and it has become part of everyday business life first in Europe and then beyond. Today, there is a growing market for consumer roaming, including pre-paid cardholders.

National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) however have paid little attention to roaming users, either their own residents when they are in foreign countries or foreign subscribers visiting country of the regulator. In some cases it may not be their explicit responsibility, in others over-pricing of roaming services may be seen as a necessary and rather obscure evil, while operators build up their businesses. One option available to them is to address the worst cases on a bilateral basis between NRAs.

Competition has been very limited. Countries have often been slow to license second, third and fourth operators. The operators often create an appearance of rivalry in the high street, but with little real competition behind it. One potential class of competitor, the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), has made slow progress. Sense Communications was so long delayed in Norway that it failed. In the United Kingdom, OFTEL took a decision to wait, which unfortunately was used by other regulators as an excuse for procrastination.3 Nonetheless, there are now two MVNOs in the UK. However, they are really joint ventures: One-2-One with Virgin, and Orange with Energis, targeting consumers and business users respectively.

GSM Roaming now extends from Greenland, by way of Europe, Africa, Asia and across the Pacific to South America spanning more than 120 countries and two or three times that many networks. The new GSM Global Roaming Forum (GGRF) brings together networks using different technologies, including CDMA and looking to third generation technologies.4 In doing so it raises many complicated issues concerning contracts, tariffs, regulation and privacy.

The technicalities of GSM roamingtop of page

A GSM telephone will automatically detect the various networks available when it is switched on. In the home country it will ignore other networks and connect with the operator, which provided the SIM card. National roaming is used while one operator has not completed its national coverage. This will also happen with UMTS customers roaming on GSM networks until the completion of UMTS networks.

Upon entering a foreign country the GSM handset detects the available networks. This usually happens automatically with the telephone displaying prominently the name of the new network. The automatic selection can be checked by the user and changed to any of the available and permitted networks. A permitted network is one with which the user's home operator has a roaming agreement. A preferred network is usually a corporate partner. Each time the phone is switched off or loses its signal it will automatically reconnect. It will disregard any previous preferences unless the user sets the phone to manual selection of networks.

Unfortunately, most users do not know how to change networks. Moreover, given the complexities of the tariffs (see below), they are highly unlikely to know which network they should select for a particular type of call and a specific time of day.

The vast majority of GSM networks use a Calling Party Pays (CPP) system. However, when roaming in another country the GSM user also incurs costs for incoming calls, to cover the cost of an international call from the home country to the roaming country. In a few cases it is cheaper for the person being called to refuse the call and to call back, because the charge to the roamer is greater for an incoming call than for a roaming call back to the person calling. To make this saving requires a detailed knowledge of the charges and also for the number of the incoming call be displayed on the handset.

With the use of a dual band telephone, roaming can be on both the 900 or 1800 MHz networks. Roaming can be achieved in the USA, but the use there of a variety of competing technologies presents special difficulties. Although the initially complicated arrangements are being simplified, it can require a special and more expensive tri-band handset for use on the 1900 MHz band or the hiring of a local phone into which is placed the user's GSM SIM card. At present there are no solutions for GSM subscribers wanting to roam in Japan and South Korea.

The industry agreements behind GSM roaming

GSM roaming was made possible by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 1987.5 The European Union supported the creation of the MoU, both to ensure a common standard across the fifteen member states and to encourage trans-European networks.6 The previously fragmented standards and markets had made it difficult for European manufacturers to sell their mobile telecommunications systems to other countries. The success for Nokia, Ericsson and other manufacturers has been considerable. The standards for GSM have been developed and maintained by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, but transferred recently to the 3GPP.7

In order to provide roaming services, the various GSM operators have entered into roaming agreements negotiated commercially, on a case-by-case basis by the pair of operators concerned. A few brokers negotiate such contracts on behalf of operators, for example, Comfone, Mach and Roameo.8

The key agreements to facilitate international roaming for GSM operators are the Standard Terms for International Roaming Agreement (STIRA) and, more recently, the Inter-Operator Tariff (IOT). Use of the IOT is facilitated by the Transfer Accounting Protocol version 3 (TAP3) which became available to operators in July 2000, after several months delay.

In some respects the goals of the GSM Association in creating these agreements are entirely admirable, seeking to simplify arrangements between operators. This is entirely understandable given that there are now thousands of such agreements. Any substantial operator is likely to have up to two hundred such contracts.

STIRA simplifies the negotiation of roaming agreements by providing a framework and tariffing principles. As such it provides economic and technical benefits. The problem is that there are also very negative effects. By using a retail-plus pricing model, the users end up bearing very high charges. The operator providing the roaming service charges a certain fee, usually a quite expensive tariff perhaps with a further profit margin added. The home operator then adds a mark-up to this charge by between 10 and 25 per cent. Both operators make substantial profits and neither has an incentive to reduce the prices or the profit margins.

Given that the structure of the tariff is determined by the roamed operator it can be quite alien to the visitor. A TeleDanmark Mobile customer, accustomed to billing in one second units, might be surprised to discover that KPN Mobiel (Netherlands) bills by the minute, which can make a critical difference on short calls. A TeleNor customer, understanding the "peak" period to be from 09:00 to 18:00, would be surprised to find in the UK roaming on Vodafone that it is from 06:00 to 20:00, while French operators additionally designate Saturday mornings as peak times. Where a large operator might be expected to have negotiated a discounted price, this seems to be missing from the market.

The introduction of the IOT allegedly provided for much greater flexibility in the charges to individual operators. However, it remains too early to know if this is the effect in practice. To become effective it will require operators to use TAP3.

In some respects IOT/TAP3 seems a misguided approach, since what it seeks to do is improve the efficiency of transmission of information between operators. As such it at least supports and even encourages complexity. The catch is that no mechanism has been devised to help the roaming user first discover and then comprehend the complexity of the tariffs. It would be much easier if the handset could pick the cheapest option or if the tariff was set to a simple flat fee. There is no reason why a user could not just buy unit 100 minutes of roaming for use across the European Union. Given that handsets select roaming operators in a relatively predictably way, it should be possible to arrive at flat fees using a weighted average of operator tariffs in a foreign country.

One of the peculiarities of the GSM roaming market is that only licence holders are allowed to enter into roaming agreements. A result of this seems to be an enhanced level of interest in GSM licences in places such as Iceland and Lichtenstein. It does not seem to matter where you have a licence or even if you operate a real network. There would appear to be no technical reason why other operators, given certain systems, could not engage in roaming. This form of discrimination severely limits competition in the market and may not comply with competition law.

European Commission sectoral investigationtop of page

Some preliminary results from the INTUG Roaming Charges Survey were given at a mobile telephony conference in March 1999. Some of the issues raised by this study were published by Communications Week International on 15 March 1999. They were also picked up in a study for the European Commission by Analysys/Squire Sanders and Dempsey.9 The final version of the INTUG Survey was published in November 1999.10 The March conference had been attended by officials from the European Commission and they evidently took an interest in the topic. A second survey was published in September 2000.

The Competition Directorate General of the European Union launched an investigation into the telecommunications sector on 27 July 1999, covering markets for leased lines, local access and GSM international roaming charges:

The Commission has received a number of complaints that roaming charges continue to be extremely high, as well as complaints concerning collusion on roaming rates, and refusal to deal at national and international level. In November 1999, the International Telecommunications Users Association (INTUG) completed a study comparing roaming retail tariffs with retail tariffs for mobile calls without roaming. The INTUG study indicates that for mobile consumers the difference in price between roamed and non-roamed international mobile calls to the same destination within the EU can be up to 500%. There appears to be no convincing technical explanation for such differentials at retail level, which suggests that the underlying wholesale markets are not competitive either.11
Work by the Commission began when questionnaires were sent to operators and national competition authorities in January 2000.12 Both in November 1999 and February 2000 there was press coverage of the results of the ITUG Survey. The outcome of the Commission inquiry is now expected in late 2000.

All negotiations for roaming agreements, MoU, STIRA, IOT and the associated practices within the European Union fall under the very strict terms of Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the Treaty of Amsterdam (textually unchanged from the original Treaty of Rome). These outlaw cartels and empower the European Commission to consider, to approve (with or without undertakings) or to proscribe "concentrations". They also oblige the Commission and the Member States to take extreme care when granting special rights. They have to ensure that operators cannot use their GSM licences as a lever in other markets or to determine market share or to fix prices or to impose unrelated contract terms. It would seem, prima facie, that the agreements and practices associated with roaming are in breach of competition law.

Similar anti-trust legislation is in force in many countries and competition authorities should look at the matter. The Federal Communications Commission, the US Department of Justice and the US Trade Representative are one such group. They are noted for their aggression where they believe American businesses are being disadvantaged or US consumers, even if only when travelling abroad, are being "ripped off". Moreover, US operators must comply with Truth in Billing in respect of their charges for roaming.

If there had been any doubt about the lack of competition in the market for international mobile services, this was removed by the poor response to a Request for Information (RfI) for pan-European roaming services from the Wireless SIG of the European VPN Users Association (EVUA).13 This was an attempt to solicit interest from suppliers in providing borderless services to a range of very large corporate customers. It was estimated that they owned around three-quarters of a million handsets and were spending around two billion Euro per year on mobile telecommunications. The results were initially disappointing, with few players able to make any substantial offering either in terms of coverage or savings. Eventually, offers were forthcoming including those from Mint Telecom, IMC-Worldcell, RSL and GTS Group.14 The major operators, such as Vodafone and the France Telecom Group (including Global One and Orange) are, at this time, remarkably reluctant to make available the necessary services, discounts and technical facilities. It seems there was reluctance to break away or be seen to be first to break away from the established practices.

The 1999 Reviewtop of page

On 12 July 2000 the European Commission launched its regulatory package of five directives, one regulation and a decision. The process leading up to this had involved many published studies and a sequence of consultation exercises. It was all commendably open and will continue through the remainder of 2000 and into 2001 under the co-determination and conciliation procedures of the Treaty of Amsterdam.

There were preliminary debates in the European Parliament and in June 2000 a Report on the 1999 Communications Review drafted by Wim van Velzen, MEP, was adopted. This identified the high charges for international roaming as a subject for concern:

… the high roaming prices and the higher prices for calls from the fixed network to the mobile network than from the mobile network to the fixed and than calls from the mobile network to the mobile network are clear examples of market imperfections; the Commission should consider possible ways of lowering those prices to acceptable and transparent levels; in so doing, however, the Commission should, if at all possible, avoid regulatory intervention in the mobile communications market, which has grown freely;15
As part of the debate, ECTA and INTUG organised a seminar in the Parliament on the future regulation of mobile telecommunications.16

One of the key changes being made concerns Significant Market Power (SMP), the threshold used to decide which operators are to be subject to more stringent ex ante regulation.17

The existing definition is a market share of twenty-five per cent, but this will be moved to a competition law definition of dominance. Many NRAs have used regulation of operators with SMP to open markets and to improve the provision of services. Users and alternative carriers have had good reason to be thankful for regulation based on SMP. However, the central issue is not SMP itself, but rather the transition to a competitive market.

Using the competition law criterion for dominance in order to impose ex-ante regulation is not necessarily a step towards stronger reliance on competition law. It could prolong the transition to full reliance on competition law, and may impede the operation of competition law in the sector. There seems to be confusion between the application of competition law to the sector and the inappropriate use of certain competition law terminology to create new regulation. In competition law dominance per se is not a problem, it only becomes an issue where there is abuse. Imposing ex ante obligations on operators found to be dominant is not applying competition law, it is just another name for regulation. The real test for ex ante regulation should be whether there is effective competition, which requires an examination of each market. If the level of competition is unacceptable and if it is due to a market failure or the behaviour of the players, that can justify administrative regulation of the operators in the market. Operators would continue to be bound by competition law in terms of Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the Treaty.

One procedural problem arises, since a new definition would be open to legal challenge, which could take several years to resolve. During that time NRAs would be effectively impotent in the face of SMP operators. This is something which many users and smaller operators consider to be too horrible to contemplate. Uncertainty is of benefit only to established players who can pay for and can sit out the legal proceedings. It is to the enormous disadvantage of new or potential entrants, who will be unable to enter the market and may go bankrupt waiting to enter the market.

A central question in the regulation of telecommunications is the regulatory regime for mobile operators. A very strong case can be made that mobile operators demonstrate "joint dominance" in terms of Article 82 of the Treaty. However, there have been no cases brought against telecommunications operators and until the courts have ruled on this matter it cannot be certain. An analysis of joint dominance is given by the Commission in its Notice on the Application of the Competition Rules to Access Agreements in the Telecommunications Sector: framework, relevant markets and principles.18

The proposed Directive on Universal Service and Users' Rights contains a requirement for mobile number portability in all member states. At present this is available only in some and is being made available in others, but very slowly. Mobile number portability is a prerequisite for competition in the mobile telecommunications market. Without this users are locked into their existing suppliers and can change operator only with considerable disruption and expense.

It also imposes the contractual right to "up-to-date information on all applicable tariffs". This will require operators to make available detailed information about roaming charges in order that their customer can manage their use and confirm the accuracy of their bills.

Roaming pricestop of page

The data for this survey were gathered and analysed by INTUG Europe directly through browsing the web sites of the GSM operators and through telephone calls made to customer service centres. The two largest GSM operators were selected in each of the member states of the European Union, with the exception of Luxembourg and the addition of Norway. Norway is a member of the European Economic Area and falls under identical competition law to the European Union, through that treaty.

The model call selected was of 2 minutes and 15 seconds. The cost was calculated in Euro, excluding VAT. Where different charging schedules existed, the business subscription was used. Pairs of calls were compared, those from country A to country B looking at the charges to a domestic subscriber in country A and a visiting subscriber from country B. In order to calculate the cost of this call, the following data were gathered:

    call set-up charge (if any)

    call charge per minute at peak time

    times when peak charges apply

    unit of time used for charges

It is often difficult to obtain information on roaming prices, as these are not always provided on web sites.19 Enquiries were made by electronic mail messages, telephone calls and faxes to customer care numbers.

Operators do not seem to act in the spirit of customer care and may breach of a number of European Union directives, including those on Unfair Contract Terms and Consumer Protection. The Proximus web site contains one of the most telling and severe of warnings.20 When downloaded in July 2000 it provided data from November 1999 with the following warning (also available in French and in Flemish):

The version of the brochure that you can download here, was published in November 1999. The prices quoted in the brochure are merely given as information and depend on the foreign networks as well as on the current exchange rates. Belgacom Mobile N.V./S.A. can in no way be held accountable for any changes or discrepancies. Belgacom Mobile N.V./S.A. can not guarantee the availability of services offered abroad. Foreign operators may decide to change them without prior notice.

For more information about calling to and from abroad, please refer to our ProxiWorld page.

Given that Proximus customers have no access to information on foreign operators’ charges it is hard to know what they are expected to do. The customer has a contract only with Proximus and can reasonably expect Proximus to comply with European and Belgian telecommunications and consumer protection legislation. Certainly Proximus will have no hesitation in billing the customer for any roaming calls. It is not at all clear that this sort of disclaimer is fair or reasonable.

However, Proximus is not alone in this. Most operators disclaim some measure of responsibility, especially against currency fluctuations and changes of tariffs by other operators.

Another potential source of information for the user is the foreign operator. Given that the home operator adds a percentage to the IOT it is impossible for the foreign operator to tell the visiting roamer what the charges will be. In some cases the mark-up varies according to the nature of the contract and tariff with the home operator. Consequently, the only realistic source of information has to be the home operator.

In the case of the two Greek operators, Panafon and TeleSTET, neither provides information for customers. Their respective web sites describe roaming but offer no roaming prices. Telephone calls to their customer care numbers received the answer that they merely added a charge to the amount levied by the foreign operator, something about which they were ignorant. However, they could provide the prices their networks charged to visiting foreigners, but without the mark-up that the home network would add. Neither Telecom Italia Mobile nor Telecel (Portugal) provided roaming information.

Without an accurate tariff it is difficult to see how a customer could verify or dispute a telephone bill. To be told that a charge was what a foreign operator asserted was the cost, plus a mark-up, is insufficient. Clearly this raises questions of compliance with national legislation on pricing information and on accuracy of billing.

There are two obvious approaches to pricing which are replication of charges in the roaming country and flat pricing.

The data for calls between Denmark and Ireland are given below (see tables 1 and 2). Since 1999 the roaming prices have risen and become much more closely aligned. There is now little variation for a Danish subscriber in Ireland in the four possible combinations. The mark-up over the cost for the Irish subscriber is in the range 70 to 80 percent. Prices for Irish subscribers in Denmark have declined sharply.


Table 1 - Denmark and Ireland prices in Euro (1999 in brackets)
 
Calling to Denmark from Ireland EirCell Esat Digifone
Danish subscriber Sonofon 2.14 (1.85) 2.21 (2.11)
TeleDanmark Mobil 2.14 (2.05) 2.21 (2.12)
Irish subscriber non-roaming 1.25 (1.74) 1.24 (1.57)

Source: INTUG Europe data.

Table 2 - Denmark and Ireland prices in Euro (1999 in brackets)
 
Calling to Ireland from Denmark Sonofon TeleDanmark Mobil
Irish subscriber EirCell 1.95 (2.80) 1.36 (2.90)
Esat Digifone 1.02 (2.20) 0.87 (1.96)
Danish subscriber non-roaming n/a (1.42) 0.93 (1.37)

Source: INTUG Europe data. 

The surcharge of over 100 per cent seen in 1999 has almost disappeared in the case of Esat Digifone customers, though Eircell customers are still paying a surcharge of forty per cent. This seems to be moving in the correct direction and reflects the sharp drop in international call prices in Denmark.

There are a number of plausible factors which would explain variations in costs:

    marketing strategies of operators

    costs of access to international circuits

    volume of traffic

    ease of negotiating roaming contracts

    comparative economic costs (labour, capital, etc)

    international exchange rates

    licence fees (especially initial charges)

Nonetheless, the variations in roaming charges are so considerable as to require further study and explanation.top of page
Figure 1 shows the average roaming charges for the specimen call for the operators. Variations since 1999 can, in part, be accounted for my currency fluctuations for those countries not participating in the Euro. Figure 2 shows, for the purposes of comparison, the average cost of international calls made while in the home country. It shows some marked reductions from 1999.
Taking a wider comparison of tariffs it is possible to see just how variable the prices are. Table 3 shows prices per minute for telephone calls from France to Belgium. Each country has three GSM operators, though not all have roaming agreements. Prices for roaming customers are two to three times the prices for home customers. However, compared with popular calling cards used in callboxes, the ratio is much higher and when compared with Viatel, a low-cost provider, the ratio is a factor of ten. These are adjoining countries, with French an official language in Belgium. Mobistar is a member of the France Telecom Group.

Third generation roaming

Roaming on third generation networks is intended to be as global as possible. Since there are five frequency bands approved for IMT-2000 and three different technologies, it could require a very sophisticated handset. One proposed solution is the software defined radio, though this could require the user to pay for an expensive handset. In remote, mountainous and polar regions access to mobile telecommunications may require the use of satellite services and special handsets.

If the present complexity of pricing for roaming is not eliminated, then it could become even more intolerable, once more advanced services are added.

A number of technical solutions are possible for voice telephony. For example, least cost routing could be performed by the handset, using information downloaded from an operator or a third party. Some of the existing standards, including GSM, allow for the real-time display of the cost per minute or the cumulative cost of a call on the LCD panel.

It is expected that location-based services will play an important role in third generation services. These are of two types, commercial and emergency services. In the case of a call to emergency services numbers, then such location information as is available must be passed on, overriding any privacy concerns. It can assist the emergency services in arriving speedily at the correct location. Commercial services will require an opt-in before user location data is passed to anyone and with an additional override function which can be used to block the location being passed on a one-off basis. This becomes very complex when roaming. Logically and legally, the jurisdiction for data protection is the country being visited, rather than the country from which the roamer comes. However, the roamer may not know the nature of the data protection regime in force or its consequences. Indeed, the service providers may not be aware of the location of the roamer. It is essential that the privacy of users must be protected seamlessly.

In m-commerce there will be a default URL or its equivalent and a limited range of options. This raises issues which are familiar from long established competition law on airline customer reservation systems and television electronic programme guides. It will be necessary to regulate carefully the provision of such services to ensure that there is a competitive market. If the default setting can be changed by a third party, then it opens issues of security and creates a real danger of "slamming", especially when abroad.

A number of operators have already tried to achieve what has been called the "walled garden", where users will only be able to access the range of services provided by the operator. Competition and regulatory authorities seem to be taking a robust view that this is anti-competitive.

The user needs to be in control and no change or additional charge should occur without a warning and a positive acceptance by the user in a language acceptable to the user, not necessarily the local language.

Conclusion

The costs of international roaming are a very serious concern to consumers and businesses, and are being inadequately addressed by the industry. Politicians and regulators, at least in Europe, have become more alert to the problem and action is beginning to be taken to introduce the necessary elements of competition. Businesses have increased their pressure on operators to deliver cost-effective global services. Nonetheless, operators seem loathe to lower international roaming charges.

Further, GSM operators have made it remarkably difficult for customers to ascertain the prices of roaming telephone calls. Moreover, information provided may be inaccurate, incomplete or only approximations. Compiling the data for INTUG surveys proved to be far from straightforward. The provision of information is inadequate and in some instances could be considered in breach of consumer protection and telecommunications laws. The next stage will be to compare the cost of real calls with the published tariffs, once the bills for July roaming calls are sent out.

Overhead and operating costs are incurred in roaming and these should be recovered. However, consumers are clearly being over-charged and sometimes by considerable amounts. Setting aside roaming, it would appear that some and probably many GSM operators are charging very high prices for international calls from their domestic networks. There appear to be generally substantial mark-ups on the cost of international calls and only limited pressure to reduce them.

The problem of high charges arises from the nature of the licences and the manner in which the operators have sought to exclude competition and to obtain the maximum leverage. Competition law is directly applicable because operators are jointly dominant. In the European Union and European Economic Area there are considerations from the allocation by the state of special rights, in the form of GSM licences. Further issues arise from merger control with groups such as Vodafone, France Telecom and DTAG building their pan-European and global companies.

There is no evidence of the effects of competition in roaming charges, largely because of the industry structure, in which services are tied to networks. These in turn require licences, which governments have used to shore up dominant incumbents and to encourage the growth of new businesses. Recently they have become a means to raise money. The simplest means to introduce competition would be to license Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).

The outcome of the EC's Competition Directorate General investigation will go a considerable way in helping to increase competition and to understand the position. It is an interesting test of the application of competition law to telecommunications. The INTUG study was undertaken in Europe both to contain its scale and because there was an audience for it, in the European institutions. The recommendations are reproduced in the Appendix. It would be possible to do this on a global level, but there is nowhere to take such a complaint. Thus, it would need to be addressed country by country.

Roaming on third generation networks is fast approaching, the first services will be rolled out in 2001. Arcane roaming charges will have to be eliminated, it will be necessary to avoid slamming and other abuses when arriving in foreign countries, and consumer protection against extremely complicated privacy issues must be insured. Finally, the possibility for services, which are truly global in scope must be created.

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References

European Commission (1997) Communication on the further development of mobile and wireless communications. COM (97) 217 final

European Commission (1998) Communication on the implementation and functioning of the mobile communication frequency directives. COM (98) 559

European Commission (1997) Communication: Results of the public consultation on the Green Paper on the convergence of the telecommunications, media and information technology sectors. COM (97) 623

European Commission (1997) The Convergence of the Telecommunications, Media and Information Technology Sectors, and the Implications for Regulation Results of the Public Consultation on the Green Paper. COM (99) 108

Council of the European Union (1990) Council Recommendation of 9 October 1990 on the co-ordinated introduction of pan-European land-based public radio paging in the Community (90/543/EEC; OJ L310/23, 09.11.90)

European Union (1996) Directive 96/2/EC of 16 February 1996 regarding mobile and personal communications. (OJ L 20/59, 26.01.96)

European Union (1997) Directive 97/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on Interconnection in telecommunications with regard to ensuring Universal Service and Interoperability through application of the principles of Open Network Provision (ONP).

European Commission (1999) Discussion Document. The 1999 Review: the regulatory principles.

European Commission (1999) Explanatory note: on tariff principles for fixed to mobile calls originating from the fixed network of an operator notified as having significant market power.

European Commission (1998) Green Paper on Radio Spectrum Policy in the context of European Community policies such as telecommunications, broadcasting, transport, and R&D.

European Commission (1994) Green Paper on a common approach in the field of mobile and personal communications in the European Union. COM (94) 145, 27.04.94

Notes
  1. INTUG—International Telecommunications Users Group, Bd Reyers 80, 1030 Bruxelles Tel: +32 2 706 8255 E-mail: ewan@intug.net
  2.  http://www.intug.net/surveys/
  3.  Oftel (1999) Mobile Virtual Network Operators: OFTEL inquiry into what MVNOs could offer consumers A consultative document issued by the Director General of Telecommunications. Oftel, London. June 1999. http://www.oftel.gov.uk/competition/mvno0699.htm -  Oftel (1999) OFTEL Statement on Mobile Virtual Network Operators. Oftel, London. October 1999. http://www.oftel.gov.uk/competition/mvno1099.htm
  4. http://www.gsmworld.com/ggrf/
  5. http://www.gsm.org/
  6. Council of the European Union (1990) Council Resolution of 14 December 1990 on the final stage of the coordinated introduction of pan-European land based public digital mobile cellular communications in the Community (GSM) (90/C/ 329/09; OJ C329/25, 31.12.90)
  7. Council of the European Union (1987) Council Directive of 25 June 1987 on the frequency bands to be reserved for the coordinated introduction of public pan-European cellular digital land-based mobile communications in the European Community (87/372/EEC; OJ L196/85, 17.07.87)
  8. Council of the European Union (1987) Council Recommendation of 25 June 1987 on the coordinating introduction of public pan-European cellular digital land-based mobile communications in the Community (87/371/EEC; OJ L196/81, 17.07.87)
  9. http://www.etsi.fr/ and http://www.3gpp.org/
  10. http://www.comfone.com/, http://www.mach.com/ and http://www.roameo.com/
  11. http://www.ispo.cec.be/infosoc/telecompolicy/en/fmc.pdf
  12. http://www.intug.net/press/GSM_roaming.html
  13. http://www.europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/00/111|0|RAPID&lg=EN
  14. http://www.evua.org.uk/
  15. http://www.evua.org.uk/, http://www.mint-tele.com/, http://www.worldcell.com/, http://www.rsl.co.uk and http://www.gtsgroup.com/
  16. Report on the Commission communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions entitled: ‘Towards a new framework for Electronic Communications infrastructure and associated services – The 1999 Communications review’ (COM(1999) 539 – C5-0141/2000 – 2000/2085(COS)). A5-0145/2000
  17. http://www.intug.net/europe/symposium/
  18. [98/C 265/02]
  19. http://www.intug.net/surveys/gsm/roaming.html
  20. http://www.proximus.be/

 
 

Acknowledgements

The assistance of colleagues in INTUG, especially Allan Fischer-Madsen (Fischer & Lorenz) who instigated this project. Colin Mackenzie of Arthur Andersen and Chairman of the EVUA Wireless Special Interest Group. The staff of the European Commission in the Directorates-General for Competition and the Information Society.

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Appendix

INTUG Europe - Recommendations from the 2000 roaming charges survey

    The European Parliament and the Council should ensure that the Directive on Universal Service and Users' Rights requires operators to provide accurate and intelligible information on roaming prices. This is essential that users know in advance the cost of calls and can verify their bills.

    The European Parliament and the Council should ensure that the proposed Regulatory Framework Directive and the Access and Interconnection Directive provide the necessary legal certainty for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).

    The European Commission and in particular the Competition Directorate-General, together with national competition authorities should consider whether national markets for mobile telecommunications demonstrate joint dominance by the operators in terms of Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the Treaty.

    The European Commission and the National Regulatory Authorities, once the new legislative package has been enacted, should undertake an analysis of the market for pan-European roaming services in accordance with Article 14(3) of the Regulatory Framework Directive. If that market is shown not to be effectively competitive, then NRAs should impose cost-oriented prices in accordance with Article 16(3) of the Directive on Universal Service and Users' Rights.

    Member states should determine the extent to which the provision of services to roaming users falls or should fall within the jurisdiction of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs): their own national subscribers roaming in other countries, foreign subscribers visiting their own country, revenues flowing from roaming charges and so on.

    The European Commission and in particular the Information Society Directorate General should consider the introduction of a benchmark price for international roaming at €0.50 per minute at peak times within the internal market.

    The European Commission and in particular DG Consumer Protection and Health should consider whether the provision of information on prices charged to roaming users within the internal market complies with the relevant directives.

    GSM operators should consider whether it would be better for customers if they were to simplify their roaming tariffs into a scheme which it was possible for users to understand. For example, a flat charge or to provide real-time cost information to users.

    User groups should draw the results of this survey to the attention of their members and alert them to the possibilities of cost savings from the careful selection of networks when roaming.

    INTUG Europe should repeat this survey in 2001 to determine if the position has improved.


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