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The European Commission will most probably impose price cuts on SMS roaming following the failure of mobile operators to make voluntary price cuts before the July 1st deadline.
EU Commissioner Vivien Reding warned operators in February that without these price cuts, she would have no choice but to propose more regulatory intervention.
According to Informa Telecoms & Media, despite a last-minute tariff changes from the likes of T-Mobile and Telefonica, SMS prices for EU roamers are still up to 75% higher than in 2006. But not all is black. For one thing, rates for non-messaging data roaming fell 20% on average over the same period and continue on a downward trend as more operators launch bundled and day-rate packages.
Informa’s research analyst Angela Stainthorpe argues that SMS roaming is a strong candidate for another round of regulation. “Operators have been noticeably willing to bend to the EU’s will regarding non-messaging data, which includes mobile broadband services for laptop users, but have left SMS to the mercy of the regulators,” she added.
Revenues from non-voice roaming by EU subscribers travelling in the EU will more than double between 2008 and 2013, reaching 1.1 billion EUR by the end of the period. Non-messaging data roaming revenue will grow on average 26% per year, while at the same time, SMS revenues will experience a 7% annual growth.
More information about Informa’s report titled “Global Mobile Roaming: Operator Strategies and Market Trends (3rd edition)” is available from here.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
