The proposal adopted by the European Union (EU) parliament Thursday, may not after all solve the big problems when
it comes to providing citizens with access to broadband infrastructure, ITRealms reports.
According the latest
Strand Consult’s analytic made available to ITRealms indicated that previously
research has noted that the new EU proposals on how to harmonize the European
telecommunications market has gained a lot of attention and EU Commission
proposal for cheaper roaming means collapse of the European mobile industry.
Also, ITRealms reports
that Strand Consult pointed out that there was a high risk that consumers would
buy a subscriber identification module (SIM) card in Lithuania, for instance, where
traffic is cheap, and then used it in other EU countries, where traffic is more
expensive.
The Strand Consult research called its “mobile arbitrage,”
hence it believes this will become a lucrative speculative market for financial
traders, some operators and some Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs),
however perverse and unintended by the EU.
Further, the EU had listened to criticism, but insisted
roaming will be subject to ‘reasonable use’ even as EU Commission stipulates
that consumers cannot exploit the new rules, for example, buying a SIM card in
Lithuania but using it in the United Kingdom (UK), so as to benefit from
Lithuanian prices.
ITRealms equally
reports that the EU had made its position known that usage would be monitored,
and “excessive use” of this tactic would not be allowed.
This, experts at Strand Consult told ITRealms sounds different in practice,
noting that the EU Parliament adopted a proposal where it will likely ask
telecom companies to monitor the their clients' international traffic, but
neglecting the real thing.
“The EU statement reveals that the Commission has not
considered the consequences. It has made a feel-good/sound good
telecommunications package designed to win votes before the Parliamentary
election without addressing or harmonizing the underlying conditions that
creates the differentials in roaming in the first place namely the infrastructure
costs, taxes, contract obligations etc.
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