When the European Union was formed the goal was to eliminate the need for multiple currencies and to improve trade between nations. As the years have gone by however, the EU has become similar to the United States of America in that there’s regulation that’s passed by high ranking elected officials which all 27 members of the EU need to follow. This has caused a massive conservative movement to form, composed of people who wish to how life was before the EU, but that’s another topic of discussion all together. One of favorite EU officials is Viviane Reding, who hails from Luxembourg and is currently serving as European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, but before that (November 2004 to February 2010) she was the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media. One of her biggest achievements is bringing down the cost of roaming. Since 2007 the maximum amount you can be billed for a phone call has dropped by 6% every year. As of this month the prices are capped at 32 pence per minute (plus VAT) for outgoing calls, and 10 pence per minute (plus VAT) for incoming calls.
But wait a minute, in America you can go to any one of the 50 states and make a phone call and have said call not be considered “roaming”. The EU is looking to do the same thing and their goal is that by 2015 a call you make or receive from any country in the EU should cost the same as what you pay for calls at home. It’s certainly ambitious, and right now this goal only concerns voice calls. By 2015 there will be a slew of LTE networks covering the EU, and since voice calls on those are nothing more than data, how exactly is it going to be billed?
I’m sure they’ll figure out the technical details, but for now … way to go EU!
