Ireland's Ahern proposes EU slash or eliminate roaming charges

Europeans may soon be able to travel around the continent free of cellular roaming charges, if a proposal by Irish cabinet leader, or Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern gains support in the European Parliament. Ahern's push for reduced or eliminated roaming fees comes immediately prior to a scheduled update on the very same topic by EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding on Tuesday, when she is expected to propose a regulation that would reduce fees faster than carriers are willing to on their own. The current interest in bloated roaming costs began in June of last year, when the EU executive announced that it would take action after having just cited Germany's T-Mobile and Vodafone for overcharging visiting tourists.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 24th 2006 1:07PM]

We all know the mobile operators will just find a way to get around this if it does come into effect. Here, in Ireland, they've already dropped the handset subsidy, yet we're still paying the highest rates per minute in Europe, despite having the second-highest saturation of mobile devices per capita. Dropping the roaming charge will just mean we'll have to pay more on the tarriff, although I believe Vodafone have already dropped the charge for all customers going from Ireland to the United Kingdom.