Decision time for data roaming tariffs

The European Commission is about to rule on EU wide data roaming and SMS charges

The first anniversary of the introduction of EU Roaming Regulation legislation passed last week, with EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding claiming some successes and promising more to come.

The public consultation deadline on data roaming services launched by the Commission on 7 May has also finished, as has Reding's deadline of 1 July for EU mobile operators to reduce both SMS and data roaming prices.

Reding wrote to all mobile operator chief executives in June, asking them to provide her with their future plans on prices by 1 July.

In a statement the EU said that what actions would be taken next depended on a number of issues. "The European Regulators Group (ERG) figures on the implementation of the EU Roaming Regulation for the last quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 - these will be the basis of the Commission’s decision-making process," it said.