News / Mobile
European operators launch a roaming-rate lookup service
European mobile operators launched a web service in 2006 intended to help travellers look up roaming charges before leaving home.
Choosing an operator and destination
A visitor selected a home country, home operator and destination country. The service then displayed prices for incoming calls, local calls in the visited country, calls home and text messages. It covered tariffs from 75 European operators, including O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone in the UK.
GSM Europe developed the tool, and the European Regulators Group welcomed it as a consumer benefit. It appeared amid pressure from the European Commission to reduce roaming rates, which operators opposed on the grounds that broader mobile tariffs could rise.