EU Shows its Muscle

Many mobile companies in the 27 EU nations have put into effect the new maximum fees on cross-border mobile phone calls, meeting the terms of the new "Eurotariff," the European Commission said Thursday. The Eurotariff requires a charge of no more than 0.49 euro ($0.67) per minute for calls made abroad and no higher than 0.29 euro for calls received abroad, throughout the nations.

Around 50 percent of consumers in Europe have already profited from the substantially reduced tariffs, only a month after the new rules came into force, according to Viviane Reding, EU telecoms commissioner.

Many operators offered the tariffs at the start of July, while others began with their new fees just in time for the July 30 deadline. Companies are permitted to compete for their customers by offering prices below the EU cap as well.

The operators have a maximum of one month to activate customers' new tariffs, now that the deadline has come and gone. If customers do not notify their cell phone operators which fee schedules they wish to pay, the companies are obliged to the switch them automatically to the Eurotariff on Sept. 30, ensuring that the users benefits as soon as possible from lower rates. The EU surveyed 95 mobile operators about when they offered and introduced the Eurotariff, as well as its exact price and starting month.

Britain offers the lowest rate

The lowest price currently offered, as identified by the commission, is 31.5 cents a minute for an outgoing call, and 12.6 cents a minute for an incoming call. This offer comes from Britain's 3 network. Before the price ceilings were applied, an EU traveler could have been charged as much as three euros per minute.

Germany's E-Plus and Vodafone offer an outgoing call for 49 cents and 24 cents for an incoming call, while O2 and T-Mobile offer a slightly lower rate at about 48.5 and 23.5 cents per minute.

Not all companies have been cooperative, however. The so-called "black sheep" operators have not followed the new rules for roaming rates, and they will be "analyzed very carefully," according to Reding. If evidence of violation is found, sanctions might be implemented.

Cytamobile in Cyprus, for example, will only begin offering the new reduced prices on Aug. 30, which is a clear violation of the rules. Operators in Latvia, as well as some operators in Estonia and Finland, did not reply to the commission's questionnaire at all.

The commission will do a more detailed analysis of the implementation of the Eurotariff in October. The assessment will be the starting point for a decision on whether to extend the offer to include SMS, MMS and data roaming, as well as whether to intervene in non-cooperative companies.