Irish governments make call for all-Ireland mobile tariffs

Officials of the SDLP and Sinn Féin have called on the Irish and British governments to introduce measures forcing mobile operators to introduce all-Ireland tariffs. The two governments have given cellcos until March to resolve the problem of customers incurring roaming charges when using their cellphones in the border counties. The phone companies are understood to favour a technical solution to cross-border roaming, but the main political parties are petitioning instead for an all-Ireland tariff, saying the cellcos’ approach will only reduce, not eradicate the problem. In some areas customers are being charged an international rate when their signals are picked up by transmitters on the other side of the border