The European Commission has voted to end roaming charges in Europe by Christmas 2015, as part of a wider vote in support to the Commission’s proposed regulation for a “Connected Continent” (telecoms single market).

The new rules will come into effect on 15 December 2015. From that date, it will cost EU mobile users the same to make a call, send a text or use data services in any European country as it does in their home European country.

Announcing the move, European Commission vice president Neelie Kroes said: “This vote is the EU delivering for citizens. This is what the EU is all about – getting rid of barriers to make life easier and less expensive. Nearly all of us depend on mobile and internet connections as part of our daily lives. We should know what we are buying, we should not be ripped-off, and we should have the opportunity to change our mind. Companies should have the chance to serve all of us, and this regulation makes it easier for them to do that. It’s win-win.”

The lobbying group ETNO, which represents Deutsche Telekom, Orange, and Telefonica, said the vote was a step in the wrong direction…

The EC also voted in favour of net neutrality, preventing internet service providers from levying additional charges for data-rich online services such as YouTube or Netflix.

David Murphy writes:
There has been a great deal of debate around Europe in the UK of late, most of it carried out between two politicans with distinctly opposing views, slugging out in front of a live TV audience.

But whatever your political persuasion, few people are likely to have any issues with the European Commission’s decision to abolish EU roaming charges. I have three problems with roaming costs, particularly for data, all based on my own experience.

The first is that the roaming bundles on offer from UK operators vary wildly. In Barcelona for Mobile World Congress a few weeks back, colleagues on some networks were on a deal that let them behave as if they were on their home network, with several gigabytes of data to play with, for a one-off payment of a few quid. I (on O2), was on a tariff of, from memory £3 a day, for which I got a miserly allowance that I used up on the first day checking Google Maps to find my way from the airport to my apartment.

Beef number two is the network’s ignorance of what they have to offer. When I called Vodafone to ask for a roaming bundle for my dongle, they had no idea what I was talking about. It was only the fact that I had had the same bundle last year which meant I could tell them what it was called and how much it cost and get it added to my account. I had a similar experience in my local O2 store, where I was told O2 didnt do roaming bundles, but managed to find the bundle myself online.

Beef number three is the network’s ignorance of what you have already bought, which comes down to a CRM failure. Having taken O2’s miserly data bundle before I left the UK, the first thing that appeared on my phone as I switched on again on landing in Barcelona was a text from O2 offering me the self-same bundle I had already signed up for. (On a related point, Orange, with whom my contract ended around five months ago, are still sending me texts on a weekly basis offering me games and various other enticements.)

If all this will end on 15 December next year (apart from the texts from Orange, I’m sure I’ll still be getting them), it won’t be a day too soon.