End of roaming charges: EU negotiators agreed on wholesale prices, the final piece to make it happen
As the last step towards the end of roaming charges by 15
June 2017, representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the
Commission agreed on how to regulate wholesale roaming markets (the prices
operators charge each other when their customers use other networks when
roaming in the EU). EU negotiators agreed on the following wholesale caps:
-3.2 cents per minute of voice call, as of 15 June 2017
-1 cent per SMS, as of 15 June 2017
-A step by step reduction over 5 years for data caps
decreasing from €7.7 per GB (as of 15 June 2017) to €6 per GB (as of 1 January
2018), €4.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2019), €3.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2020),
€3 per GB (as of 1 January 2021) and €2.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2022).
Mr Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single
Market, welcomed the agreement: "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".
Last night's political agreement is a final achievement to
make "roam-like-at-home" work as of 15 June 2017, as foreseen in
the Telecom
Single Market (TSM) Regulation. It means that when travelling in the EU,
consumers will be able to call, send SMS or surf on their mobile at the same
price they pay at home. The agreement makes "roam-like-at-home"
sustainable for people and businesses, while ensuring cost recovery and keeping
national wholesale roaming markets competitive.
Thanks to yesterday's political agreement on wholesale rules
and the rules
on fair use policy and sustainability adopted by the Commission in
December 2016, consumers can use their home subscriptions when travelling
periodically abroad. If consumers exceed their contract limits when roaming,
any additional charges will not be higher than the wholesale roaming caps
agreed today.
The Commission will conduct a review of the wholesale market
by the end of 2019 and provide the colegislators with an interim assessment by
15 December 2018.
Next steps
The European Parliament and the Council must now formally
approve the agreement reached today. The new wholesale roaming prices will
become applicable on 15 June 2017, in time for operators to take all the
necessary preparatory steps for the introduction of roam-like -at-home by then.
Background
For a decade, the Commission has been working to reduce and
ultimately end the surcharges that telecoms operators imposed on their
customers each time they crossed a border while using their mobile device on
holiday or during business trips. Since 2007, roaming prices have decreased by
more than 90%. Prices
fell for the final time in April 2016, to 5 cents per minute of voice call,
2 cents per SMS, and 5 cents per MB of data on top of national rates. In 2015,
and based on a proposal of the European Commission, the European Parliament and
the Council agreed to end
roaming charges for people travelling periodically in the EU. The
Commission adopted technical measures needed to make this happen, including a fair
use policy and sustainability mechanism in December 2016. In parallel,
the Telecoms Single Market Regulation entrusted the Commission with the task of
reviewing the wholesale roaming markets and making
appropriate proposals before 15 June 2016, in order to enable the abolition
of retail roaming charges from 15 June 2017.
(http://europa.eu)
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