Government takes action, of sorts, on international roaming charges

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 07 April 2010 15:48

IT Policy - Regulation

The Australian Government says it has in place a number of initiatives to address the issue of high, and often opaque, charges for international mobile roaming, but it has stopped short of seeking either bilateral or multilateral regulation, despite a parliamentary enquiry calling on it to do so, and despite the OECD suggesting that regulation is the only solution.

The OECD has just issued a second report on international mobile roaming charges, looking specifically at ways to combat the high charges. It says: "This report acknowledges that directly regulating roaming prices may be the only way to guarantee that consumers are not unreasonably charged."

In Australia, a House of Representatives enquiry into international roaming charges tabled its report in March2009. Its primary recommendation was that: "The Australian Government pursue a policy of regulating the framework for the wholesale cost of roaming through bilateral and multilateral negotiations with other countries, ensuring that countries with the largest number of Australian visitors are given priority."

In its response, released in September 2009, the Government said it "agrees in principle to explore the options available for developing reasonable bilateral and/or multilateral arrangements for wholesale roaming charges, consistent with existing trade obligations."

Following a request from iTWire for information about progress on this and another initiatives promised in the response, DBCDE provided a written statement saying it was "actively progressing Recommendation 1 of the report concerning bilateral and multilateral discussions on international mobile roaming charges through a number of international forums."

Recommendation one, however, was not about vague 'discussions': it called on the government, specifically, to: "pursue a policy of regulating the framework for the wholesale cost of roaming'¦"

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