Ofcomand ComReg (the Republic of Ireland’s Commission for Communications Regulation) have published the report of their Joint Working Group on cross-border inadvertent roaming.

The Joint Working Group (JWG) was set up in April 2004 in order to explore solutions to problems - and especially the problem of inadvertent roaming - affecting telecommunications users in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The report was delivered to a Joint Ministerial meeting held in London last week attended by Northern Ireland Minister, Maria Eagle, and the Republic of Ireland Minister,Noel Dempsey.

The issue of inadvertent roaming - where mobile phone users connect to a base station in the Republic of Ireland while in Northern Ireland and vice versa, often incurring international charges as a result, - has been a matter of concern not only to the two governments but also to public representatives, business and consumer groups, as well as individual consumers, for some time. Successive Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland Ministers have called upon the mobiie operators to respond to these concerns and requested that Ofcom and ComReg work with the operators to find solutions. Of particular concern to Ministers has been the lack of tariff offerings for pre-pay customers who make up nearly 75% of all customers on both sides of the border.

The report indicates that

> Much progress has been made in improving mobile coverage in border areas since the JWG began focusing on the issue. Howevever, a solution to the problem based solely upon improving coverage, owing to the terrain and to the relatively low density of population in many areas along the border, is never likely to be either economically viable or technically feasible.

> The quality of information provided by mobile operators remains variable and could be improved. Customer care in retail stores situated near the border is generally very good. However, with none of the UK mobile operators having a customer support operation based in Northern Ireland, call centre staff often have little understanding of, or experience of dealing with, the problem of inadvertent roaming.

> A wide range of new tariff options has been launched since the JWG began the project. In the Republic most operators now effectively offer all-island rates to both pre-paid and post-paid customers. No UK operator has quite replicated this, as it would mean introducing all UK-Ireland rates for a problem which only affects consumers in Northern Ireland, but there are now several tariff offerings - available to both pre-pay and post-pay mobile phone users in Northern Ireland - some of which compare very favourably with those of the RoI operators and which can considerably reduce the cost of inadvertent roaming.

In the longer term, developments at the European level on international roaming generally are likely to become the focus of attention of the market and offer the prospect of wide-ranging changes in tariffs not only between Northern ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but also across the European Union.