Liz Lynne welcomes European Court ruling on cap on mobile roaming fees

7.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 8th Jun 2010

Without the EU, controls on mobile roaming charges would be impossible, says Liz Lynne

LibDem Euro MP Liz Lynne has today welcomed the European Court of Justice's decision to uphold the EU cap on roaming charges for using a mobile phone abroad.

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg rejected a challenge by Orange, Vodafone, T Mobile and O2 and said the EU was legal in imposing price caps on mobile roaming fees in the interest of the single market.

The operators wanted to outlaw a price-capping regime that came into force in 2007, in spite of extensive lobbying from telecoms groups to protect a market worth €8.7bn at the time the regulation came into force.

Roaming fees have fallen sharply since the law came into effect and the cap has been extended from voice calls to data downloads and text messages.

Lib Dem MEP Liz Lynne said:

"This is great news for mobile phone users and a vindication of the European Union's tough stance to stand up for the ordinary consumer against unfair monopoly profits by huge multinational firms.

"I am disappointed that mobile operators have fought these perfectly reasonable limits on charges. In 2006, they were warned about the cost of roaming voice calls but they failed to bring the charges down until MEPs forced them to.

"They also ignored warnings about excessive text and data charges to no avail. The EU was right to take action against their unfair charges and I am delighted the European Court of Justice upheld our right to do so.

"The cost of sending a text abroad used to be as high as 41p per text for many British consumers. Since then charges for texts or calls have fallen dramatically.

"As well as lower charges for data, mobile companies must now offer cut off limits to stop charges silently mounting up. Once again, action at an EU level has greatly benefited the consumer and it is significant that Europe's highest court has upheld these laws."

The court ruled that, contrary to the operators' argument, the EU could legitimately impose caps using legal provisions that were designed to protect the single market.

In a statement, the court said "the level of retail charges for international roaming services at the time of the adoption of the regulation was high, and the relationship between costs and charges was not such as would prevail in fully competitive markets".

The court also rejected operators' claims that regulating roaming fees was a measure for national governments, not the EU.

ENDS