EU Finally Agrees to End Roaming Charges

eu flagRepresentatives of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission have agreed on caps on wholesale charges, ending a 10-year battle.

At present, phone operators charge each other when their customers use their phones when roaming in the EU. However, from 15 June 2017, the negotiators agreed to place a cap on the charges incurred so consumers within the EU can ‘roam-like-at-home’.

From the summer month, calls will be priced at €0.032 cents per minute and texts at €0.01 per SMS. Meanwhile, data caps will reduce over a five-year period starting at €7.7 per GB in June to €6 per GB in January 2018, €4.50 in January 2019, €3.50 in January 2020, €3 in January 2021, and €2.5 in January 2022.

Andrus Ansip, VP for the digital single market and man who spoke out about importance of deal being reached, said: “This was the last piece of the puzzle. As of 15 June, Europeans will be able to travel in the EU without roaming charges. We have also made sure that operators can continue competing to provide the most attractive offers to their home markets.

“Today we deliver on our promise. I warmly thank the European Parliament rapporteur Miapetra Kumpula-Natri and all the negotiators from the European Parliament as well as the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU and all those involved in achieving this milestone. Their efforts made it happen.”

However, the agreement has not been welcomed by all interested parties. MVNO Europe, which represents the interests of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) in Europe, believes the caps have been set too high.

The organisation fears that ‘as smaller operators and MVNOs pay wholesale access at the level of EU regulated caps, there is a high risk of these operators not being able to recover their costs’. As a result, it fears there will be fewer ‘roam-like-at-home’ offers for consumers and that only dominant mobile operators will drive the market – due to the barriers presented to ‘smaller players’.

Innocenzo Genna, MVNO Europe VP, said: “European citizens expect the end of the roaming surcharges to happen without losing competitive tariffs and innovative offers: by contrast, with the present deal on wholesale caps, they will be heavily disappointed”.