Go Mobile Indeed

This blog has made it a habit of criticising the governmental policy on travel. The cumulative effect of Airport Charges and Government Departure Taxes amounting to Lm40 has been well documented in J'Accuse as being a disincentive to travel. Today we will discuss another minor (albeit important) punishment inflicted on persons just because they have chosen to travel - roaming charges for mobile phones. Here is what EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding had to say about roaming charges at the EU Summit last week:

"This [roaming charges] is one element of the internal market that does not work because it is punishment for people who go abroad - whether they are businessmen or students".

You will be glad to hear that Malta is not the only offender in this category, however it will not be too surprising that here too we come out tops. Champions. Champion chargers that is. And here is a little table to show you:

Typical range of prices (in British £) charged by mobile operators in the country named when their users make a four-minute call home. In each case the tariff range was taken from a random selection of 4 EU member countries in September 2005:

UK - 2.37 - 5.66

Austria - 1.46 - 6.53

Belgium - 1.62 - 4.95

Cyprus - 2.04 - 8.29

Czech Rep. - 2.47 - 6.01

Denmark - 0.46 - 4.19

Estonia - 8.32 - 2.36

Finland - 0.14 - 4.76

France - 2.95 - 4.13

Germany - 2.16 - 4.10

Greece - 3.28 - 5.56

Hungary - 2.88 - 3.76

Ireland - 1.32 - 6.33

Italy - 2.75 - 5.50

Latvia - 1.54 - 4.98

Lithuania - 2.02 - 7.11

Luxembourg - 3.25 - 6.61

Malta - 3.44 - 9.00

Netherlands - 2.20 - 3.80

Poland - 2.38 - 5.58
Portugal - 2.34 - 4.27

Slovakia - 2.45 - 5.62

Slovenia - 2.19 - 5.78

Spain - 1.93 - 4-95

Sweden 1.38 - 3.58

Unbelievable but true. Malta comes out tops in both cases. The lowest price available in Malta is still higher than the lowest prices in all the other 24 countries. Needless to say the most expensive 4 minute call home when roaming can only be registered on a bill in Malta. Nine English Pounds.

Now let's keep calm. Apparently the whole market is to blame. Apparently prices do not reflect real conditions and Ms Reding suspects that they are inflated. So let us say that all the operators in all the Member States deserve a slap on the hand. But can we be so damned unlucky as to have the most expensive bastards of the lot?

Regulation anyone?