Following today’s vote in the European Parliament to reduce roaming prices, Vodafone announces that its customers have already seen the average cost of voice roaming in Europe fall by over 40% compared to summer 2005. 

 

This is the result of various initiatives which Vodafone has introduced in recent years to provide better value roaming services to its customers, including those on both the Vodafone Passport and Vodafone World tariffs.

Since its launch in 2005, the Vodafone Passport tariff has attracted over 12 million customers across all of Vodafone’s businesses and Partner Networks. The vast majority of these customers are in Europe, and they have already been enjoying an average cost per minute for making and receiving calls which is lower than the 40 cents* proposed by lawmakers for the Euro-tariff, which will be introduced later this year.  An opt-in clause proposed by European lawmakers will ensure that customers who have already chosen Vodafone Passport can remain on this tariff and will not be forced to take the Euro-tariff.

Arun Sarin, Chief Executive of Vodafone said:
"Vodafone has led the market by offering better value and choice to our roaming customers.   As a result, they pay 40% less on average today and around 12 million have been able to choose our Passport tariff, which already offers a better deal than the Euro-tariff proposed in the regulation."

Vodafone also confirms that over 80 million of its European customers can already receive roaming tariff information, free of charge, whenever they travel.  Vodafone believes that this transparency helps customers to decide for themselves how and when to best use roaming services.  The transparency measures now being proposed by European lawmakers are already largely in place for Vodafone customers.