More than a quarter of EU citizens switch off mobiles abroad due to roaming costs

According to a recent survey, almost all Europeans who travel abroad limit their use of Internet services because of mobile roaming charges: were they to end, there would be 300,000 more customers. EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Kroes: phone roaming charges are “economic madness”

Some limit their use of internet services, some send text messages instead on making a phone call, some just switch off their mobile: somehow or other, the overriding majority of European citizens is still unconfortable in using their mobiles when travelling abroad. According to a new survey of 28,000 EU citizens, the European Commission calculates that telecoms companies are missing out on a market of around 300 million phone users because of current pricing strategies.

In fact, almost every respondent (94 percent) who travel outside their home country said they limit their use of services like Facebook, because of mobile roaming charges. Yet, there are even more radical choices: 47 percent would never use mobile internet in another EU country; only 1 person out of 10 would use e-mails in the same way as at home; millions (2 persons out of 10) divert to text messages rather than pay for calls; finally, 28 percent of those who travel in the EU switch off their mobile phone when going to another country, keeping it off until they are back home. According to the survey, only 8 percent of travellers use the phone abroad in the same way as at home making a phone call; furthermore, 3 out of 10 never phone when being on a trip in another country.

This problem does not involve only occasional travellers: the frequent travellers are more likely to switch-off their mobile phone data roaming capabilities than the occasional ones – frequent travellers are better informed about the real costs of data roaming in Europe, than those who travel less.

“The results are frankly astonishing,” said the European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes, “It shows we have to finish the job and eliminate this problem. It’s not just a fight between holiday makers and telco companies, with users cutting their use of mobiles down to the bone. Millions of business face extra costs because of roaming and companies, like app makers, lose revenues too. Roaming makes no sense in the single market. It’s economic madness,” she added.