In the chunnel, ‘bonjour’ will work

Posted on Jul 28, 2012 in Business | 0 comments

Three French telecommunications firms have won a pre-Olympic event, signing contracts with Eurotunnel that company officials say put Britain in second place.

British companies are still negotiating with Eurotunnel for rights to use the 32-mile tunnel’s new infrastructure for mobile phone calls, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

That means calls can be placed by passengers going from France to England, but not going the other way. Brits making calls will also be paying steep roaming charges in the tunnel, while French consumers will not.

“Using a mobile abroad can be hugely expensive, which is why we want phone companies to make consumers aware of exactly how much data they’re using and the costs,” said a spokesman for the Web site Which?.

“It is ridiculous if British travelers are going to be paying more than others, so we urge phone companies to get their act together,” the spokesman added.

A Eurotunnel spokesman said, “We are charging the operators a fee for using the infrastructure.”

This puts the majority of tunnel users at a disadvantage. About 85 percent of the passengers who use the tunnel are Brits, the newspaper said.

The three French firms that have signed deals with Eurotunnel are Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR.

Copyright 2012 by United Press International