Madame Viviane Reding, the EU's Telecoms Commissioner doesn't really do popularity within the telecoms industry.
Those of us who have regularly attended Mobile World Congress over the years are accustomed to Madame Reding outraging telcos from the Shannon to the Carpathians with a series of moves designed to trim mobile broadband charges charges.
Yet as a consequence she's very popular among end users. And maintaining the MWC momentum, Madame Reding's department has produced some rather good news for the mobile business professional. And even attracted bouquets from a professional body instead of the usual brickbats.
The first piece of good news est arrivé in the form of a cap on mobile broadband roaming charges.
For those mobile computing users still wit a travel budget, many a user has blanched at receiving the monthly bill for mobile broadband usage whilst outside the UK.
Presumably sensing an opportunity to boost mobile business/boot the telcos* (delete where appropriate) the European Parliament endorsed the European Commission's proposals--that is the good lady's--to reduce, as of 1 July, consumer roaming charges for downloading data in the EU.
Brussels basically wants a cap on inter-operator charges for roamed data. The Commission had proposed a wholesale cap at €1 per megabyte, while the Parliament's Internal Market Committee had suggested a wholesale cap at €0.25 per megabyte. Eventually the EC drew the line at the €1 per megabyte mark.
The Parliament's lead Committee on the new roaming legislation also endorsed measures to enhance the transparency of roaming charges to eliminate the risk of bill shocks for data roaming.
"Yesterday's vote in the European Parliament is very good news for consumers all over Europe. In view of the current economic downturn, the Parliament is right in wanting to strengthen the purchasing power of European consumers," enthused the luxembourgeoise Telecoms Commissioner
And hardly any sooner had the champagne stopped flowing at driving through the regulation, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), certainly historically no grand ami de Bruxelles welcomed the decision by the European Parliament to accept the amendment of the GSM Directive to allow UMTS (WCDMA-HSPA) technology to be deployed in the 900 MHz band.
This means more HSPA mobile broadband services should be able to be rolled out across Europe at lower costs for network operators: and hopefully for end users. Ne c'est pas? To date according to the GSA's latest research, the EU is home to 120 of the 259 commercial HSPA systems worldwide.
The move was no less than 'groundbreaking' said GSA President Alan Hadden. "This groundbreaking spectrum agreement in Brussels enables more Europeans to benefit from mobile broadband services. It is a clear signal to all regulators (NRAs) to prepare the path in their respective markets for a new wave of HSPA deployments."
So next time you think that the EU exists only for inveterate lunching by failed national politicians, you can email your complaints from anywhere in Europe a lot more cheaply
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