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posted by mattie_p on Tuesday February 18 2014, @09:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-stay-home dept.

girlwhowaspluggedout writes:

"The European Commission reports that, fearing high roaming charges, many EU citizens forgo the use of their mobile phones outside their home country. According to a survey done by the Commission (pdf), when travelling to another EU country, 90% of all EU citizens limit their e-mail use, 47% do not use their mobile internet connection, 33% never place calls, 25% do not text, and a staggering 28% simply turn off their mobile phones.

Roaming charges, the Commission suggests, are hurting the fledgling EU app sector. In trying to avoid paying data premiums, travelers limit their use of data-heavy apps, like travel guides, maps, and photo applications. Frequent travelers are even more likely to turn-off their phones, perhaps due to being better informed about the costs of data roaming.

The Commission reports that data roaming use across the EU has increased by 1500% since the introduction of price caps in 2008. It suggests that by eliminating all roaming charges, mobile providers will gain a further 300 million customers. These findings give further support to regulations proposed by the Commission that will create a single mobile phone market throughout the EU, enabling all customers to enjoy domestic rates when travelling within the EU."

 
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  • (Score: 1) by kbahey on Wednesday February 19 2014, @12:38PM

    by kbahey (1147) on Wednesday February 19 2014, @12:38PM (#2580) Homepage

    I am in Canada as well, and the whole North American market is screwed up monopolistic. First, there was the CDMA thing, and handsets not having a GSM card. Then it was GSM phones locked to the carrier to hinder customers from changing carriers.

    There are also the contracts, which were 36 months, now down to 24 months, but they are a long term lock in.

    And, spectrum fragmentation [baheyeldin.com], e.g. WIND has frequencies different from the big 3, therefore forming a barrier to customers moving. The industry association formed by the big carriers convincing the government that they are running out of spectrum ...

    Even Citigroup questions the "rationale" of shortage in spectrum [baheyeldin.com].

    All this contributes to the balkanization and monopoly [baheyeldin.com]

    We had 3 newcomers to the market, WIND, PublicMobile, and Mobilicity. One was swallowed up by a bigger company, a second is in deep financial trouble and the third (WIND) stagnating.

    And don't get me started on costs! Regular plans are $55 a month, and then you add data to that! Highway robbery.