Governments must act to cut mobile roaming costs, says OECD

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 22 February 2012 15:19

IT Policy - Regulation

The OECD has called its members' governments to boost competition in international mobile roaming markets in order to drive down the high prices being paid by consumers and businesses.

The OECD has detailed a series of measures that, if implemented would, it says: "encourage effective competition, raise consumer awareness and protection and ensure fairer prices."

If these fail to produce results it says: "Governments should consider price regulation for roaming services," and that "Wholesale roaming services could be regulated by means of bilateral or multilateral wholesale agreements with mutually established price caps."

"It is essential to remove barriers that prevent mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) from having access to wholesale mobile services on local conditions and on fair and reasonable terms," the OECD says. "These MVNOs should also benefit from regulated wholesale roaming rates between operators."

The recommendations - from the OECD's Council on International Mobile Roaming say that the Council is "determined to take the necessary steps to ensure effective competition, consumer awareness and protection, and a fair price level in international mobile roaming services."

There follows a list of 12 recommended initiatives that could be taken by governments. These are ranked from the least to most interventionist, with that being both retail and wholesale price regulation, to, "protect customers from paying excessive prices for using roaming services."

The recommendations instruct the OECD's Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy to "promote and monitor the implementation of this recommendation and report to Council within three years of its adoption, and as required subsequently, to assess progress made."

However it is hard to see how pressure could be brought to bear on member governments to implement the recommendations.