International Mobile Phone Charges To Plummet?
While the introduction of the mobile phone has had a massive impact on both business and social users, international mobile phone calls have always attracted much controversy. Many suspect that the mobile phone networks around the world have taken advantage of the public’s lack of knowledge with regards to the actual cost of overseas calls, to inflate prices. So why might this change?
The European Union are in the process of voting on a recommendation to all European partners so that a cap will be placed on the amount which the mobile companies are able to charge for overseas calls (and texts). Overseas mobile calls are possible by the using a process called “roaming†whereby rival networks agree to carry calls from each others networks for a fee. It is estimated that the profit from these “roaming†fees alone is somewhere in the region of £5.7 billion a year!
The mobile phone companies have always argued that the initial and ongoing investment required to continuously update and upgrade their services justifies the level of “roaming†charges. This is an argument which has been the subject of much debate for many years, although there is no doubt that the mobile phone companies do invest billions of pounds in infrastructure and improved services.
Whatever happens over the next few days, it seems that international mobile phone charges are most definitely on the way down - much to the delight of many consumer groups - but will future services be compromised in any way?
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