March 3rd, 2009 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial | No Comments »
Within the next three years, the European Commission hopes to cut back roaming costs for consumers. These cutbacks will not only focus on calls and SMS traffic, but also data roaming charges.
This plan comes from EU secretary Vivian Reding. If her plan will be accepted (it will be discussed somewhere in April), operators will be obligated to provide clear insights to consumers on the costs of foreign data usage. To avoid over-charging, consumers can set a limit to what they want to pay. This way, the secretary hopes to increase the competition.
With data traffic set to safe limits, it will be much more interesting for travellers to consumer data in foreign countries. Especially ad funded mobile games are known for their data costs, so that market could greatly benefit from these regulations.
