EC phone proposals 'could hit poorer people'

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EC phone proposals 'could hit poorer people'

Thu 25th Sep 2008

Proposals for the European Commission (EC) to reform mobile phone charges may have adverse effects on consumers, it has been claimed.

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom says people on low incomes and pay-as-you-go tariffs could be hit by the plans, the BBC reports.

The EC wants a 70 per cent cut in the charges imposed by mobile phone operators for managing each other's calls.

But both Ofcom and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform fear that this loss would be recouped by imposing higher charges on the person receiving the call.

In a joint statement, they said it was "unduly optimistic" to hope for certain fundamental mobile phone tariff reforms to be in place by 2011.

Earlier this month, Vodafone said that 40 million European mobile phone users might switch off over proposed European Union reforms to call charges.

It said that if networks were forced to cut the rates they charge each other to connect calls, they might need to raise fees to recoup their losses, the BBC reported.

Brussels said there was a need for more competition and that prices were too steep.

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