No more roaming in EU starting with June 15 – Agreement on limiting wholesale prices of telecom operators reached

The European Union has reached a preliminary agreement on limiting the wholesale prices that telecom operators pay to each other when their clients use mobile phones abroad, which is a step towards abolishing roaming starting with June, the European Commission reported.

The limitation of wholesale prices was the last step needed for putting an end to roaming charges from June 15, 2017, after several years of Brussels' efforts towards enabling the citizens to use their phones abroad without being charged extra for it.

Until now, EU citizens paid exorbitant amounts for roaming when visiting or working in another EU member-state, which has long since been recognized as an obstacle to creating a unified market.

The wholesale price of data transfer, the most controversial issue considering increased internet browsing through mobile phones will be limited to EUR 7.7 per GB, and then gradually reduced to EUR 2.5 until 2022, the EC reported.

At the same time, the price of voice calls will be reduced from 5 to 3.2 cents, whereas text messages will be halved to 1 cent.

– If consumers exceed their contract limits when roaming, any additional charges will not be higher than the wholesale roaming caps agreed – the EC said.

The European Parliament and the Council must now formally approve the agreement reached, but it is considered to be the first success of Malta's presidency.

However, there's the question of who would foot the bill as telecom operators still need to pay each other to keep their customers connected abroad. The problem is compounded by wide differences in domestic prices and consumption patterns across the bloc, making a wholesale cap that suits all national markets extremely hard to find, writes EurActiv.com.

Countries in Eastern Europe, where consumers can use mobile data at low prices favor lower wholesale caps to avoid companies raising prices in their home markets, effectively making poorer customers subsidize frequent travelers. However countries in the tourist-magnet south worry that their operators could be forced to raise domestic prices to recover the costs of accommodating the extra tourist traffic, EurActiv.com adds.

The European Commission has been working to reduce and ultimately end the surcharges that telecom operators imposed on their customers each time they crossed a border while using their mobile device.

Since 2007, roaming prices have decreased by more than 90%, last time in April 2016.

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