May/June 2005

Cross-border mobile phone calls could be about to get significantly cheaper. Vodafone has made the first move in this direction with the launch of a scheme called Vodafone Passport, which is being rolled out progressively in the company's various European markets.

Prices and terms vary according to the user's home country, tariff and so on, but essentially you register for the scheme (at no cost), then pay a fixed "connection fee" for each call made or received. The actual rate for the call is then much lower than before.

As an example, Vodafone says a Dutch customer calling home from Greece for ten minutes would pay 0.99 euros now, compared with 5.50 euros before, while a user visiting Germany would pay 0.83 euros to receive a ten-minute call from home, compared with 4.20 before. Very short calls might end up costing more, but the savings seem wide-ranging.

Commentators are predicting that the move could spark a general reduction in mobile roaming costs, although Gartner says rivals with less extensive networks will be hard put to respond. But it adds that Vodafone "needs to increase the availability of Passport, especially in the United States, if it is to make the service a global offering. It also needs to address data services."