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Vodafone add new passport customers to strengthen its position that Passport is a good alternative to proposed regulation.

After Vivian Reding the EU commissioner announced plans to cut roaming charges by an average of 50% by next summer, networks have been fighting back and trying to bring costs down themselves to try and prove to the EU that regulation is not needed. 

Vodafone are fighting back against the EU’s cap on roaming charges by announcing that it has put 10 million customers onto their Passport plan.  Vodafone have said that there passport scheme has brought the average cost for its customers down by a fifth, claiming that a 3rd of their customers who use roaming in Europe are signed up to the plan.  But the question we would like answering is if Vodafone are so confident that there passport plan is the answer to regulating roaming charges, why do they only offer it on selected price plans?  Surely it should be available to every Vodafone customer as standard, and not as an add-on which a consumer has to pro-actively have added.

For people not familiar with Vodafone passport, it offers customers reduced call rates whilst abroad by charging customers a fixed rate (75p) to use their mobile phone to call back to the UK, the call is then charged at the same rate as back home or taken out of your inclusive minutes.

Vodafone are also trying to help customers by introducing a new ‘text back service’ which allows customers traveling abroad to text Vodafone to find out the cost of making and receiving calls and sending texts whilst abroad.  It also informs you if there is a Vodafone preferred network in the country you will be visiting, by using this network you would also make savings on your calls.  Texting Vodafone for this information while you are in the UK is free, texting from abroad would cost the relevant text rate for that country.

Vodafone have managed to sign up another 2.5 million customers to their passport service through fierce campaigning via customer bills and direct mail hoping that this could help the cause of a legal challenge for the EU’s plans and to stave off a cap by showing the results of its own scheme.

The question is will they be able to do enough to hit their target of slashing prices by 40% by April 2007?