(Associated Press via NewsEdge) European Union governments are 'within reach' of a deal to cut charges for mobile phones calls for cross-border travelers that could be in place before this year's summer vacation, the EU's telecoms chief said.
The EU's 27 telecoms ministers meet Thursday at the yearly CeBIT technology show in Hanover, Germany, to thrash out an informal agreement that could set an upper limit for how much mobile phone companies can charge customers who use their phone in another EU country, known as roaming fees.
This could pave the way for the law to be approved in early June, coming into force later that month or in early July.
EU telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding called on the ministers and members of the European Parliament, which must also approve the deal in May, 'to listen more to customers and less to the industry lobbyists.'
'All citizens in the EU should be able to judge in July how effective the work of their ministers and their parliamentarians has been,' she said.
The EU executive wants to set price ceilings for both wholesale and retail roaming charges to ensure that these are not 'unjustifiably higher' than fees charged within a user's home country. It also wants mobile phone companies to give personalized information to customers on what they will be charged if they take their phone abroad to receive or make calls or text messages.
Current talks are focusing on how these price caps would work and whether they should also apply to data calls to cut the costs of people using their phones to access the Internet or email when they are abroad.
German Economy Minister Michael Glos said he would set to work to find common ground and reach a compromise.
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