National roaming is a measure that can be agreed commercially between operators to extend coverage or can be imposed or facilitated by governments as a means to increase competition amongst networks. It has been used with varying degrees of success in a range of countries, notably in the...

National roaming is a measure that can be agreed commercially between operators to extend coverage or can be imposed or facilitated by governments as a means to increase competition amongst networks. It has been used with varying degrees of success in a range of countries, notably in the...

Governments in a number of countries are concerned about the high surcharges for international mobile roaming and instances of “bill shock”. Russia has used competition law to force down excessive prices. Singapore has introduced consumer protection against bill shock. The USA has consulted...

The third EU Roaming Regulation (531/2012) took effect on July 1, 2012, replacing Regulation 544/2009. Wholesale and retail price caps for voice, SMS and data have been extended and reduced, with new retail caps for data usage. Anti-bill shock remedies now apply outside the EU. Measures to...

The European Union adopted a Roaming Regulation (717/2007) in 2007, then extended its duration and widened its scope (544/2009) in 2009. In 2006, the European Commission held two consultations on a possible regulation. It made a formal legislative proposal in July 2006, to implement wholesale...

International Mobile Roaming (IMR) in the twenty-two countries of the Arab League presents the conventional problems of addressing persistently high charges with retail and wholesale markets in different countries. It must also address pan-Arab nationalism and ancient patterns of...

The European Court of Justice upheld the Roaming Regulation (717 2007), rejecting the challenge by the four largest mobile operators that the legal basis on Article 95 EC (now Article 115 TFEU) was invalid and that it violated the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity. The European...

Users are increasingly concerned by the apparently arbitrary and often exorbitant charges for roaming services on their mobile telephones. Charges seem to have no relationship to costs or to best practice. Service providers make little effort to inform customers of the charges they will incur....

Unbundling has been made to work in a number of countries with relatively dense and well developed traditional copper networks. However, the conditions have been exacting, requiring: customisation for the national market, alternative operators willing to enter the market, medium‐term legal...

The purpose of this paper is to review the effectiveness of the various initiatives taken to regulate international mobile roaming over the last decade. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is an analysis of the policies and the measures and their effects on prices and industry dynamics....