PARIS -- The European Union has just adopted a regulation which automatically imposes a significant decreasein the price of voice mobile telephone calls made or received by French consumers in a roamingsituation in Europe starting the end of this summer; that is, when travelling in a country of theEuropean Union and using their French mobile phones.

This regulation also reinforces operators’ obligations to inform their customers as regards the cost ofmobile services in roaming situations within the European Union.

Which prices will decrease?

The prices of calls made or received using a mobile telephone by customers of a French mobileoperator when travelling outside of France in one of the other 26 countries of the EuropeanUnion:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

How much will these new prices decrease?

40%: This is about how much the future prices will decrease with respect to the current pricefor most users.

€0.24 excluding VAT, or less than €0.29, VAT included per minute: This will be themaximum price per minute to receive a call when in another country of the European Union.

€0.49 excluding VAT, or less than €0.59, VAT included per minute: This will be themaximum price per minute to make a call to a fixed or mobile European Union number when inanother country of the European Union.

These ceilings will decrease again on 30 August 2008 and 2009 to €0.22 then to €0.19 excludingVAT per minute for calls received and to €0.46 then €0.43 excluding VAT per minute for callsmade.

When will prices decrease?

30 July 2007: this is the deadline that operators must respect to inform their customers of thepossibility of benefiting from the “Eurotariffs” offer, which respects the European regulation,and allow them to choose at their initiative to benefit from the “Eurotariffs” or to keep theircurrent price (which may be more advantageous for certain customers). In practice, thisinformation should be provided through inserts in invoices.

One month: this is the maximum period granted to operators to activate the new price followinga request from a customer. So the first customers will benefit from the new prices at the endof August.

Two months: this is the period after which operators must automatically switch to the“Eurotariffs” customers not having made the choice and who do not benefit from a preferentialroaming price. At end September, almost all French consumers will benefit from the“Eurotariffs”.

30 September 2007: this is the date at which operators must send SMS reminding customers ofthe three main roaming prices—price of a received call, price of a local call in the visitedcountry, and price of a call to France—when they arrive in another Member State of theEuropean Union. Operators will be required to provide more detailed information free of chargeon request by the customer on voice call charges to other destinations, SMS, MMS and datacalls using mobile voice messaging or SMS.

What do consumers need to do to benefit from the “Eurotariffs” as soon as possible?

Operators will announce the steps to be taken to subscribe to “Eurotariffs” by the end of July.Then, consumers wishing to do so can subscribe to the “Eurotariffs” with their operator.

In all cases, customers can contact their operator’s customer service for information on how tosubscribe to the ”Eurotariffs” and on when this price is available.Is there a link between summer promotional offers and the creation of the “Eurotariffs”?

Summer promotions are offered by operators on a purely commercial basis and are thereforeindependent of the new European regulation. These offers may apply to all or part of theEuropean Union, or be extended to non-European countries.What should I do if I've subscribed to a preferential roaming price?Certain major users of international roaming services (business travellers, etc.) may havesubscribed to an offer which allows them to permanently benefit from lowered roaming prices.

For some of these consumers, these offers are more advantageous than the price resulting fromthe new European regulation. These customers will receive the “Eurotariffs” only if theyrequest them after being informed of the existence of new offers by their operator.

Arcep