Ofcom assesses UK wholesale international roaming market

Ofcom has begun preliminary work in assessing the wholesale international roaming market in the UK as required under the EU Electronic Communications Regulatory Framework. The assessment will be carried out alongside similar work undertaken by other national regulatory authorities in Europe. Ofcom hopes to provide an update on
its progress later in the Spring.

International roaming is a service which allows mobile phone users to make and receive calls and text messages while travelling abroad. Each UK mobile operator has established agreements with overseas networks which allow its customers to use their mobile phones in many countries
around the world, providing their handset is compatible with those networks.

International roaming agreements are complex and wholesale charges between network operators can vary significantly. This has led to confusion among users at the wide range of prices they might pay. Although some operators now offer simpler, unified retail tariffs, some
consumers still incur substantial mobile phone bills as a result of international roaming charges.

CONSUMER GUIDE

Separately, Ofcom has today published a guide to using mobile phones abroad. It provides advice on reducing costs and sets out the prices that most UK subscribers are likely to pay when making or receiving calls or text messages overseas.

The guide provides examples of how different kinds of mobile subscribers can reduce costs when abroad. It also lists the most commonly available international roaming tariffs from each of the UK's five mobile network operators.

The document can be found at
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/mobile_abroad/.