BRUSSELS, Belgium - Are mobile phone companies taking advantage of teenagers' addiction to chatting in text messages? The top telecommunications regulator for the European Union believes so, and said Tuesday that a limit should be placed on the cost of international texts.
EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said she wanted to see roaming fees for text messages fall by up to 70 per cent. She said she will put forward rules in October to cap charges.
Europeans travelling outside their home nations send 2.5 billion text messages every year - paying 10 times more than they do at home.
"We are punishing our young students, our young travellers, and that is completely unfair," Reding said.
On average in the EU, sending a text while travelling abroad costs 29 euro cents (46 U.S. cents) per message, but that can climb to 80 euro cents (US$1.27) in certain countries, such as Belgium.
Telecom regulators from the EU's 27 nations want to see that fall into a range of 11 to 15 euro cents (17 to 24 U.S. cents) for each message.
Reding's attack on text messages comes just a year after the EU capped the costs of voice calls made and received abroad. Costs for those calls have dropped by up to 60 per cent since last summer.
Last week, Canadian carriers Bell Mobility (TSX:BCE) and Telus Mobility (TSX:T) came under fire after they announced plans to start charging wireless customers for incoming text messages if they don't subscribe to a text message bundle.
Each incoming message would cost 15 cents under the new plan effective in August. Traditionally incoming messages have been a complimentary service even though outgoing messages cost money.
The announcement sparked Industry Minister Jim Prentice to call for a meeting with the chief executives of both companies to explain their "ill-thought" decision.
