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AOL Europe Lends Support to Unmetered Telecomms Campaign Ahead of Sunday 6th June Consumer Day of Action
June 04, 1999 |
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Dedicated 'Turn off the clock' online content area on AOL UK service for member information; Members offered chance to take part in online survey and to lobby MPs
London: AOL Europe, the leading pan-European Internet provider, has endorsed a growing consumer-led grassroots campaign to end per-minute charges for local phone calls. The expression of support comes as Internet users in 15 countries prepare for a pan-European telephone and online boycott on Sunday 6th June to draw attention to the high costs of the EU's outdated telecommunications pricing structures. Co-ordinated by the organisation www.telecom.eu.org, the grassroots campaign mirrors AOL Europe's longstanding opposition to metered local call charges, which the company believes remain the biggest single obstacle to the growth of the Internet and ecommerce in Europe. The UK protest is led by the Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications (CUT) at www.unmetered.org.uk. While AOL UK supports the telecomms boycott and its aims, the company believes that affirmative action at the governmental level is also needed to bring long-term results. AOL has therefore set up a dedicated content area on the service to enable members to read about the issue, take part in an online survey, and contact their MPs to lobby for change. The survey results will be published. AOL Europe's view is backed by key market analysts Jupiter Communications, whose analysis of the failure of European ecommerce to emulate the rapid growth of the online marketplace in the US concluded that: "metered charges, not total cost, is the culprit. Low use appears to have more to do with the cost of metered calls than with the total cost of metered access." (Free-to-Air-Internet, Jupiter Communications, May 1999) President and Managing Director of AOL UK, David Phillips, said: "We share the grassroots consumer campaigners' dismay that Internet and ecommerce adoption in the UK is being surpressed by an antiquated telecomms regulatory system that penalises consumers the more they stay online. Eliminating these penalties is necessary if ecommerce is going to become a reality for millions of European businesses. "Imagine buying a season ticket for your local train service then having to pay the full fare on top of that for every train you caught? Or how about paying by the minute every time you watched TV - whatever the channel - on top of the license fee? The idea seems preposterous and yet as Internet users, that's what per minute billing of online telephone time really means. It has to stop." AOL Europe's President and CEO, Andreas Schmidt, said: "Robust Internet and ecommerce use by consumers is at the heart of Europe's New Economy. Until policy makers throughout Europe take meaningful action to 'stop the clock' on metered rates, Europe's enormous potential to become a leader in the new, Internet-driven Global Economy will be seriously hampered. Now is the time to take intelligent policy leadership on this fundamental pan-European economic issue. AOL Europe welcomes the opportunity to work closely with policy makers throughout Europe and at the European Commission to find creative solutions on the metered rates issue." For further information please contact Maggie Gallant, AOL Europe Email: UKGallant@aol.com Tel: 0171 594 4568 Mobile: 0403 654 685.
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