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BUSINESS<br />
Businesstrends<br />
EU Commissioner Neelie<br />
Kroes has said roaming<br />
charges are “outrageous”<br />
Free to roam?<br />
European Commission to address lack<br />
of competition in mobile markets<br />
Under a new ruling, business travellers who<br />
opt for the EU-regulated ‘Eurotariff’ should<br />
pay no more than 35 cents per minute for<br />
mobile phone calls made and 11 cents per<br />
minute for calls received while abroad in<br />
the EU until at least next June. The European<br />
Commission, however, warns that this is<br />
still too high, and wants “a long lasting<br />
structural approach” to reduce roaming<br />
costs. “The Commission will be coming<br />
forward very shortly with comprehensive<br />
new proposals for long-term solutions to<br />
address the underlying problem of lack<br />
of competition in roaming markets,” said<br />
Neelie Kroes, the EU commissioner for<br />
telecoms, in a statement.<br />
Following the last round of regulation,<br />
a data roaming limit has been introduced to<br />
prevent massive charges for internet access<br />
via a mobile phone, and consumers receive<br />
a text once they’ve reached a ceiling of data<br />
roaming to prevent nasty surprises. A recent<br />
Eurobarometer survey found that almost<br />
three quarters of Europeans were worried<br />
about their mobile phone bills while abroad.<br />
And 72% of travellers still limit roaming<br />
calls, even if a majority is aware that prices<br />
have fallen since 2006. The Organisation for<br />
Economic Cooperation and Development<br />
(OECD) recently warned that without better<br />
levels of competition in the sector, roaming<br />
prices would never fall to acceptable levels.<br />
52 Brussels Airlines b.there! magazine August <strong>2011</strong><br />
IMAGE REX FEATURES<br />
On-the-spot fi nes<br />
for littering will only<br />
apply to certain<br />
items in Sweden<br />
Talking trash<br />
New Swedish litter law could fail to clean up streets<br />
A new litter law has come into effect in Sweden, under which throwing a beer can or<br />
newspaper anywhere other than the rubbish bin could cost you SEK 800 (€88) on the spot.<br />
This being liberal Sweden, however, there are several exceptions. For example, cigarette<br />
butts, gum and bus tickets are not legally considered to be trash, a situation that is<br />
“absolutely idiotic”, according to Joakim Brodahl of the Keep Sweden Clean movement.<br />
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency points out that cigarette butts are the most<br />
common form of litter by a wide margin, with 750 million tossed on the ground in 2005. Odder<br />
still, Sweden’s environment minister Andreas Carlgren is bothered by the butts, but doesn’t<br />
want to comment further. “I understand people who are angry about this, but we first have to<br />
wait and see what happens when the law comes into effect,” Carlgren told Dagens Nyheter.<br />
At least there’s encouraging environmental news from Rome. The Italian environment<br />
minister reports that Italy’s ban on plastic bags, brought in at the beginning of the year, has<br />
proved far more popular than expected. Until this year, shopping-crazed Italians filled up<br />
more than 20% of all plastic bags used in Europe – more than 330 per person. Now, it seems,<br />
they are enjoying the excuse to go shopping… for bags.<br />
Mobile ticket to ride<br />
Florence bus network accepting text-message fares<br />
Getting around Florence has just got a whole lot easier, thanks to a new service by Italian<br />
transport company Azienda Trasporti Area Fiorentina (ATAF) that allows passengers on<br />
the city’s bus service to receive their tickets by text message.<br />
Through a partnership with mobile payments firm Bemoov, ATAF lets users link a credit<br />
card with their phone then send a text message with the text ‘ATAF’ to a designated number<br />
when they’re ready to travel. Within seconds, they receive an alphanumeric code to be<br />
submitted to the controller for verification. There’s no additional<br />
fee for using the service, but currently only one-way tickets are<br />
sold, at €1.20 for a 90-minute trip. Stockholm and Helsinki have<br />
already embraced similar capabilities, according to Bemoov, and<br />
more European cities will undoubtedly follow.<br />
Consumers worldwide will spend about €35bn on mobile<br />
payments by 2014, according to a report by Juniper Research.<br />
North America and Western Europe will account for 50% of the<br />
total spending, surpassing the Asian market. Several European<br />
companies are investing in this ‘near-field communications’<br />
technology, which also allows people to pay for cinemas and<br />
museums by waving a mobile device across a reader.<br />
ATAF<br />
IMAGE ALAMY
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