EU Commissioner hopeful of cuts in roaming charges

Mar 15, 2007, 9:27 GMT

Hanover, Germany - European Union Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said Thursday she was optimistic that an agreement could be reached by summer to cut mobile phone roaming charges for cross-border customers.

Reding said she would discuss the issue with the EU's 27 telecoms ministers at a meeting on the fringe of the Cebit technology fair, which opened in the north German city of Hanover on Thursday.

The EU Commission proposed last summer to set a ceiling on how much mobile phone operators can charge customers who use their phones in another EU country.

EU sources say the commission is looking at a charge of 44 euro cents (57 US cents) per minute for outgoing calls and 15 euro cents a minute for incoming calls.

The European parliament and Germany, the EU's current president, have proposed charges that are slightly higher.

European Union figures estimate that mobile phone companies earn about 10 billion dollars a year from roaming charges in the European Union.

The latest technological advances in the computer and related industries are being showcased at the Cebit fair, which runs until March 21.

The event has attracted more than 6,000 exhibitors from 77 nations for its week-long run, but many major companies are staying away this year, including Nokia, Apple, Philips, Motorola and Canon.

Organizers say they expect some 434,000 visitors to attend, roughly the same number as last year.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who gave an opening speech on Wednesday evening, said she would call an IT summit in Germany later this year to pool the resources of science, industry and politics as part of an innovation offensive.