The European Commission plan to reduce the cost of using mobile phones abroad is critical if the region’s digital content sector is to fulfil its potential, say experts.

The proposal to cut international roaming charges by 70 per cent was passed by an EU parliamentary committee last week, and will face a full vote in May.

It forms part of plans to dismantle the barriers to Europe’s internal market. Stimulating take-up of next-generation mobile services will also help fuel content development – a sector increasingly viewed as vital to meeting the Commission’s i2010 aims for global competitiveness.

‘IT companies in Europe are still not able to profit from economies of scale in view of regulatory fragmentation that blocks the emergence of pan-European services and hurts the chances of e-communication operators and software companies competing in the world market,’ said Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for Information Society.

The Commission’s i2010 annual report, published this month, points to clear progress towards a digital economy, including widespread take-up of broadband and strong growth in the software and IT services sector.

But next-generation content development is critical to Europe’s future. It is already one of the fastest-growing sectors of the IT market and the Commission predicts growth of more than 400 per cent to revenues of E8.3bn (£5.6bn) by 2010.

Removing regulatory barriers will encourage both content development and wider exploitation by businesses, but requires regulations to be slackened rather than simply being brought into line, says Jeremy Beale, head of ebusiness at the CBI.

‘What is needed across Europe is greater consistency in the liberalisation of regulation, rather than greater constriction,’ he said.

Regulations must be carefully managed to realise the potential of the i ndustry, says Laurence Harrison, director of digital communications at trade body Intellect.

‘Unless the regulatory infrastructure for next-generation communications is right then as a region we are not going to be able to move from being a voracious consumer of content to being a net producer,’ said Harrison.