Daily Archives: February 1, 2024

Consumers still pay too much to call another EU country – wait, wasn’t there free roaming?!

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The EU single market holds many advantages. To be able to travel, work or purchase goods effortlessly across numerous different countries creates all kinds of opportunities for consumers. But there are still areas where it is not working or has simply not been accomplished, even if it would be the most logical and appropriate thing to do.

International intra-EU calls are one of them. It is often still prohibitively expensive to call someone who lives in a different EU country.

Since the end of roaming charges in 2017, which used to apply when you travelled to another country and called somebody back home, consumers have enjoyed their phones without the risk of a bill shock on a trip inside the EU. But they are confused that, today, calling their friends and family in another country from the comfort of their own home can cost up to €0.19 per minute on top of what they pay for their phone subscription.

Caps in place

At least since 2019, there have been EU price caps on what telecom operators can apply as a surcharge for this call. EU decision-makers then placed limits rather than remove the surcharges altogether to review the caps by 2024.

But that review has not taken place. The price caps will lapse in May this year if no action is taken, threatening to dramatically increase the prices consumers pay for a call to another country.

This could mean consumers end up with less usable alternatives like online messaging apps, with all the data protection and privacy risks they can sometimes entail, or simply stop calling another EU country.

How can we face this situation today, six years after roaming ended?

Good for telecoms, bad for everyone else

Consumers and companies who do business across borders are losing out daily by paying higher prices, while telecom companies pay the difference for their shareholders.

This is despite telecom companies admitting that costs for such calls are decreasing yearly as better, more efficient infrastructure gets rolled out.

Companies like Telefonica or Deutsche Telekom have argued passionately over 2023 for the need to loosen EU competition rules so that they can consolidate across borders because we live in a European single market. But strangely, they do not want to let consumers benefit from a market without borders. It is time for the single market to work for consumers, not just telecom companies.

Intra-EU call surcharges are a gift from a bygone era to a sector asking for all kinds of advantages today. The surcharges should be banned, just as they were for roaming.

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The Gigabit Infrastructure Act and its expected final round of negotiations on Monday, 5 February, is the last chance not only to ‘save the caps’ and continue the status quo, as many want but also the opportunity for the EU to go one step further and finally ban the surcharges altogether.

Source: Call me maybe (not)? Consumers still pay too much to call another EU country – Euractiv

Oddly enough, Dutch telecom providers don’t charge to call another EU country, so for Dutch people, it will be a surprise that other countries telecom providers do charge

The European Space Agency will test 3D metal printer metal on the ISS

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The first metal 3D printer that will be used in space is on its way to the International Space Station. The Cygnus NG-20 supply mission, which is carrying the 180kg (397 lbs) printer, launched on Tuesday and is set to arrive at the ISS on Thursday.

Astronaut Andreas Mogensen will install the printer, which Airbus developed for the European Space Agency. The machine will then be controlled and monitored from Earth.

Polymer-based 3D printers have been employed on the ISS in the past, but metal 3D printing in orbit is said to pose a trickier challenge. The machine will use a form of stainless steel that’s often used for water treatment and medical implants because of how well it resists corrosion.

After the stainless steel wire is pushed into the printing area, the printer melts it with a laser said to be a million times more powerful than a typical laser pointer. The printer then adds the melted metal to the print.

The melting point of the metal is around 1,400°C and the printer will run inside a completely sealed box. Before the printer can operate, it needs to vent its oxygen into space and replace its atmosphere with nitrogen. Otherwise, the melted metal would oxidize when it became exposed to oxygen.

Given the higher temperatures that are employed compared with a plastic 3D printer (which heats to around 200°C), “the safety of the crew and the Station itself have to be ensured — while maintenance possibilities are also very limited,” ESA technical officer Rob Postema told the agency’s website. “If successful though, the strength, conductivity and rigidity of metal would take the potential of in-space 3D printing to new heights.”

Four test prints are scheduled. The printer will replicate reference prints that have been created back on Earth. The two versions will be compared to help scientists understand how printing quality and performance differs in space. Even though each print will weigh less than 250g (8.8 ounces) and be smaller than a soda can, it will take the printer between two and four weeks to create each one. The printer will only be in operation for a maximum of four hours each day, since its fans and motor are fairly loud and the ISS has noise regulations.

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Source: The European Space Agency will test 3D printing metal on the ISS