European Parliament To Vote on Roaming Charges

The EC says that wireless network operators are charging six times the operating cost of a European roaming call.

The EC recommendation is for a price cap which will reduce the cost of roaming charges by 70 per cent.

Unfortunately there are still countries in Europe, notably the UK, which are holding out against a cap on roaming charges, influenced, no doubt, by the blandishments of the powerful, and super-rich, wirless network operators.

It seems contrary to the European spirit that citizens of one European member state should be ripped off quite so horribly when visiting another member state.

"We really need to see the interest of the consumer," says one Euro-law-maker from Malta, Joseph Musca.

Good old Malta GC. Obviously as plucky in resistance to the lobbying of the wireless operators as it was to the horrendous bombings of WWII.

However, an Austrian member of the European parliament, Paul Ruebig, was saying earlier this week that a compulsory price ceiling would force operators to change their package pricing structures and could cause their share prices to fall.

There, I strongly suspect, speaks a man who has his roaming charges paid by someone else.

TOMORROW: The Ten Worst Decisions Ever Made In The Semiconductor Industry.