The EU Telecoms Commissioner, Viviane Reding, has started to look at SMS and data roaming charges across Europe. Currently, roaming data and SMS services are not regulated and were not covered in the Roaming Regulation 2007.
And whilst there is a general trend towards lower data and SMS roaming costs, with Spanish carrier Telefonica, owner of the O2 group of companies proposing to reduce costs by as much as 40%, authorities remain concerned about the high prices across member states. SMS and data roaming charges are to be considered for regulation by the end of 2008. The impact on cross the cross Eurpoe application to peer market, e.g. Business Messaging, and Mobile Marketing is yet to unfold.