Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 April 2013
125. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the discussions he has had with mobile telephone companies in relation to the elimination of roaming charges between the Six Counties and 26 Counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20191/13]
View answerThe regulation of maximum permitted retail charges for roaming services within a fully liberalised EU market is pursued as an EU competency, following the commencement of “EU Regulation No. 717/2007 on roaming on mobile telephone networks within the Community”. There have been three such EU Regulations since the first regulation commenced in July 2007, which have successively reduced the maximum permitted retail roaming charges as well as introducing consumer protection measures to inform users of the roaming charges they may incur and to avoid bill shocks.
The overall objective of these Regulations is to bring about common tariffs for national and roaming services across the EU over time. A number of mobile service providers in Ireland already offer options for users roaming in Northern Ireland which charge for such services at or below their national unit rates. The available options when roaming in Northern Ireland include roaming calls billed at national rates, calls included within bundled minutes and calls billed at out of bundle rates, where users opt for a related network operator when roaming. The offers differ from service provider to service provider.
The current EU Regulation, No. 531/2012, which commenced in July 2012, imposes two further reductions in retail roaming charges to be implemented by 1 July 2013 in the first instance, followed by a further reduction by I July 2014. The regulated maximum per minute price, exclusive of VAT, will then have reduced from €0.49 in 2007 to €0.19 for making a call and from €0.24 in 2007 to €0.05 for receiving a call. In addition the retail price for data services when roaming, will reduce from €0.70 to €0.20 per megabyte, exclusive of VAT, between July 2012 and July 2014.
The current EU Regulation also requires the EU Commission to review the effectiveness of these measures, including a review of the availability of offers providing a common tariff for national and roaming. The review mechanism is designed to ensure that the impact of the current EU Regulation, is closely monitored and that new measures can be introduced if necessary. My Department will participate actively in this review and the Commission is to make a final report to the European Parliament and Council by 30 June 2016.
