CallBlue GSM Launches – The World’s First Wireless Network Specialising in Global Roaming.CallBlue GSM, the world’s first wireless operator to have its own proprietary network dedicated to international mobile roaming, launched yesterday.
By owning the technical infrastructure that underpins the service, unlike other roaming companies, CallBlue GSM has complete control over call costs, quality, security and billing. Callers will always receive the best signal from their handsets because all calls are switched directly from the home network.
By simply inserting a CallBlue GSM SIM card, customers have instant access to some of the lowest international call costs in over 115 countries. Using call-forwarding, users can ensure that calls to their normal UK mobile number can be answered on CallBlue GSM when roaming and in turn not incur any roaming charges. As a result, they can avoid the inconvenience of giving out a new number.
“Transparency is key,” says Les Green, Chairman of CallBlue GSM. “All CallBlue GSM SIM cards are pre-pay, and because we own the network, we can control the rates and the billing. To ensure price transparency and security, an SMS message is sent after each call, informing the caller of the costs, with no nasty surprises. Customers can also top up and check their balance either online or from their phone.”
Jay Shah, CEO and Founder of CallBlue GSM adds: “Launching CallBlue GSM is a significant milestone for me since I have been working on this project for over two years. We are committed to providing the best product, experience and service in global roaming for our customers. This service is a significant upgrade from other roaming packages currently on the market.”
Other benefits include features such as a personal CallBlue email account for each customer. Voice messages left on their CallBlue SIM will be automatically forwarded by email to their CallBlue inbox. Meanwhile, those who want to speak to several colleagues will be able to utilise a conference calling facility which allows up to 18 people (including non-CallBlue users) to take part in a conversation at once.
Last month, CallBlue GSM announced its partnership with PortaOne to provide its custom-developed PortaOne Billing 100 billing system. Previously, it was announced that Tecore would provide its high performance core network solution to ensure premium and low-cost roaming.
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The European Commission will detail its plans to regulate the cost of international roaming for mobile phone users at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
“The objective is to promote competition and to ensure that consumers are not punished for crossing a border,” said Martin Selmayr, a spokesman for Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media.
Reding will reveal the plans at a meeting with Kip Meek, the chairman of the European Regulators Group. The announcement, originally scheduled for April, follows a six-week public inquiry into the roaming charges, which is set to close Wednesday night.
Since the Commission made clear that it is closely monitoring the cost of roaming, some European network operators have announced cuts in their roaming charges. Three network operators in Ireland, for example, have abolished roaming fees for customers travelling to Northern Ireland or the rest of the U.K.
The abolition of border controls between many European Union member states means that for many Europeans, “The only way you find out today that you have crossed a border is when your mobile phone connects to a foreign network,” Selmayr said.
The regulations will affect roaming charges for customers of one E.U. network operator roaming on a network in another of the E.U.’s 25 member states, he said.
To back up its regulatory proposal, the Commission has studied the economic impact on network operators. “Some say 10 percent to 15 percent of revenue comes from roaming,” Selmayr said. “Everybody is using speculative figures at the moment,” he added, saying that the Commission would publish its own estimates next week.
The GSM Association will file its contribution to the public inquiry later Wednesday, according to association spokesman David Pringle. The association, which brings together mobile phone operators, would not disclose details of its submission ahead of time.
On Tuesday, the Commission will also update a Web site where it tracks international roaming charges to show how prices have evolved since last year.
“That will allow everybody to judge whether prices have come down or not,” Selmayr said.
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International mobile roaming specialist CallBlue GSM launched services on 10 July using it own proprietary, dedicated network. Owning the technical infrastructure allows CallBlue to have complete control over call costs, quality, security and billing. A CallBlue GSM SIM card gives users instant access to low international call costs in more than 115 countries worldwide. The call forwarding feature allows users to answer their normal mobile number on CallBlue GSM when roaming and not pay any roaming charges. Each customer gets a personal CallBlue e-mail account, with voice messages left on their CallBlue SIM card automatically forwarded to their in-box. The service also offers a conferencing call facility for up to 18 people to take part in a conversation at once. CallBlue is using the Billing 1000 billing system from PortaOne and core network system from Tecore.
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Predrag Culibrk, Telekom Srpske’s newly installed director general, has announced that his company’s mobile customers will enjoy free mobile roaming in Serbia and Montenegro from 1 July 2007. Telekom Srbije, the Serbian fixed line incumbent, acquired a 65% in Telekom Srpske earlier this year.
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On Thursday, the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, and the Culture and Education Committee, approved a European Commission proposal to reduce international mobile-roaming charges by 70 percent.
The new legislation on roaming will be effective from the summer, following further discussions in the European Parliament to hammer out the final contents of the law.
Information society and media commissioner, Viviane Reding, welcomed the approval of the committees. “I welcome that in today’s votes, two further Committees of the European Parliament have supported the main elements of the EU Regulation proposed by the Commission: caps for roaming charges, both at wholesale and at retail level, as well as clear transparency provisions,” she said in a statement.
But Reding said she found it regrettable that many in the European Parliament want only new customers to profit automatically from cheaper roaming tariffs. “Mobile phone penetration in the EU is today at 103 percent — there are thus not many consumers who would profit from the EU regulation if it would apply automatically only to new customers,” said Reding.
The commissioner added that many consumers would not take advantage of “opt in” options for cheaper roaming. “If consumers first of all will have to ‘opt in’ to the cheaper consumer protection tariff, then operators will be able to rely on the passivity of many consumers. And it will in the end be the European taxpayer who will have to pay for national regulators and the European institutions to explain to every single consumer that they have a right now to opt in,” said Reding.
The next steps in the legislative process are a vote in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee on 12 April, and a final vote in the plenary of the European Parliament in May.
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Representatives from the German EU Presidency Council, the European Parliament and the EU Commission have reached a compromise on proposed price caps on mobile roaming charges. The agreement will see roaming fees for European mobile users cut to a maximum EUR 0.49 a minute for outgoing and EUR 0.24 a minute for incoming calls, the MEP Lambert van Nistelrooij confirmed. In the coming years, the prices are expected to drop further. An earlier proposal for consumers to have to opt-in in order to benefit from the price caps was rejected. The new proposal requires mobile operators to inform consumers of the new prices within one month of the regulations taking effect, and unless customers object, to apply the tariffs then within two months. The new directive is set to come into force by mid-July, but must first be approved by the European Parliament, who will vote later this month, and member governments, who will meet in June. The EU originally wanted to cut charges to a maximum EUR 0.40 a minute for outgoing calls and EUR 0.15 a minute for incoming calls, but has faced resistance from certain member states and the mobile industry.
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Last-ditch negotiations to set a price cap for mobile phone roaming charges this summer will take place May 15, an EU lawmaker, quoted by an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said EU governments and the European Parliament must agree the new rules before they can come into effect, limiting the extra fees telecoms companies charge for calls made and received abroad.
The report also quoted Austrian conservative Paul Ruebig, who is charged with steering the regulation through the EU assembly, as saying that the parliament had made “significant concessions” to reach a compromise on all the key issues and governments had to respond positively at talks next week if they wanted the roaming rules in place before the summer vacation.
“May 15 represents the last chance to show that we are really serious about … a swift adoption of this regulation,” he was quoted as saying.
This would allow the parliament give its final vote on May 24, allowing telecoms ministers seal the deal on June 7, he said.
But he and others have warned that any further delays would mean the proposed price ceiling would not take effect by the summer break, and holidaymakers would not be able to enjoy cheaper rates, the report said.
The Associated Press report said key points of contention are how low the price ceiling should be set and whether it would apply automatically to all roaming customers, as the parliament and European Commission want, or only to those who ask for it, as proposed by EU governments.
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TelecoMasia writes…. Last-ditch negotiations to set a price cap for mobile phone roaming charges this summer will take place May 15, an EU lawmaker said.
EU governments and the European Parliament must agree the new rules before they can come into effect, limiting the extra fees telecoms companies charge for calls made and received abroad.
Austrian conservative Paul Ruebig, who is charged with steering the regulation through the EU assembly, said the parliament had made “significant concessions” to reach a compromise on all the key issues and governments had to respond positively at talks next week if they wanted the roaming rules in place before the summer vacation.
“May 15 represents the last chance to show that we are really serious about … a swift adoption of this regulation,” he said.
This would allow the parliament give its final vote on May 24, allowing telecoms ministers seal the deal on June 7, he said.
But he and others have warned that any further delays would mean the proposed price ceiling would not take effect by the summer break, and holidaymakers would not be able to enjoy cheaper rates.
The key points of contention are how low the price ceiling should be set and whether it would apply automatically to all roaming customers, as the parliament and European Commission want, or only to those who ask for it, as proposed by EU governments.
The EU member states want to let customers decide whether they want to be charged a capped EU-wide tariff. They also could opt to keep their existing packages with high roaming fees typically compensated for by lower charges on national calls.
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CallBlue launches wireless network
