Mobile phone companies must move faster to end accidental roaming which is leaving customers with hefty bills, it was warned today.
The Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey, and his Northern counterpart, Enterprise Minister Angela Smith, said progress was being made to resolve the problem of inadvertent roaming in the border areas but more needed to be done.
A report from the telecommunications regulators, Ofcom and Comreg, on the nine mobile phone companies operating in Ireland, revealed roaming was still occurring accidentally on all networks in various locations.
After a meeting with the regulators, Ms Smith said: "The report shows there has been a good step in the right direction and many consumers are starting to reap the benefits of improved roaming tariffs.
"To date, there has been progress in addressing the issue of roaming charges and I want to congratulate those companies who have made a serious attempt to rectify this problem. However, I will be monitoring closely the commitments made by the operators to ensure they are honoured."
Ms Smith said the report showed a number of solutions would be required to fully resolve the problem. "It will need a solution based on improving coverage in border areas, making better use of technology, improving consumer information and devising innovative tariffs for customers," she said.
"I am disappointed at the current pace of change and I challenge the companies to provide an industry based solution to inadvertent roaming before a solution is forced on them by the EU."
Mr Dempsey said he was pleased with initiatives from companies to tackle roaming charges, particularly from the Irish operators O2, '3' and Vodafone.
"This provides Irish mobile phone customers with real choice," he said.
"I am also very happy that this issue has been taken up at EU level and that our North/South co-operation has received recognition for providing inspiration to address roaming charges across the EU."
The European Commission has set a target of the summer of 2007 for abolishing roaming charges, which are the fees firms charge consumers to use their phone abroad, in the EU for mobile phone users. The regulators will produce a further report in August detailing any progress achieved on the roaming issue.
PA