Roaming prices are dropping in Europe – study
In some of the most popular business and tourist destinations in Europe, many visitors can make a two-minute mobile phone call home for as little as EUR 0.33 per minute, according to a survey commissioned by the GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile phone operators. In France, the study found that visiting Germans can make a two-minute call home for EUR 0.33 per minute by signing up for a bundle of roaming minutes offered by one of the mobile phone operators in Germany. British users in France can make a two-minute call home for GBP 0.35 per minute by signing up for a discount tariff offered by one of the operators in the UK. Both packages, like similar discounted tariffs from rival operators, are available to all mobile phone users. For visitors making calls of 4 minutes or longer, even better tariffs are available, reducing the per minute charge to as little as EUR 0.19 on the busiest roaming routes. Some of these deals have been in place since 2005. In Spain, the same rates apply for Germans and British users as in France, according to the study.The average lowest price across the 25 busiest roaming routes in the EU is EUR 0.46 per minute for a two-minute call. These roaming routes represent almost 50 percent of the roaming traffic in the EU market. The GSMA believes regulation is unnecessary, as the market is delivering on-going declines in roaming tariffs. The average price for making and receiving a mobile phone call when roaming within Europe was 22 percent lower this summer compared with 2005, according to a retail price index compiled by AT Kearney.
