It is time to let our phones roam free

[Commentary] Large roaming bills are a problem wherever you travel, but it is particularly absurd within the European Union.

As EU citizens, we can travel freely from one country to another -- but our phones have to behave like furtive illegals, terrified of what might happen if they attempt to do any useful work. Even receiving a call while abroad can incur a charge you would not have to pay at home. Who caused this roaming problem? It was a combination of populist politicians, short-sighted companies and an overriding hypocrisy. The hypocrisy is that the EU is meant to be a single market but even the most European-minded governments refuse to allow it to behave like one. There are 28 regulators -- one for each EU member -- and 28 systems of allocating spectrum. So mobile phones, which hop borders as easily as birds, are subject to 28 regimes.

Until now, EU politicians have dealt with this by setting maximum prices for calls and texts, as well as for each megabyte of data downloaded. This helps, but it is as absurd for a free-market community of nations to resort to price capping as it is for phones to have to adjust to each change of border. This month, the European parliament voted to end roaming charges entirely by 2016. This still has to be approved by EU governments, but, with elections coming up next month, it reeks of populism. Ending roaming charges by fiat will probably result in operators threatening to cut investment. The mobile phone companies spend too much time moaning about politicians’ behaviour and too little setting out a bold vision of their own. The reason regulators are reluctant to allow consolidation is that it would limit competition within each EU country, which comes back to the absence of a single market. Further EU integration is not popular at the moment, but this is an area where consumers could be convinced it would make life easier for them.