EU roaming to be abolished within 5 years

Cross-border phone charges should be aligned with national tariffs by 2016. Thus, in practice, within 5 years, the term "roaming" should be abolished, provided a new draft regulation drawn up by the EU Commissioner responsible for ICT and Telecommunications, Neelie Kroes, posted Euractiv. The new draft legislative proposal provides for setting a ceiling on current roaming prices along with the introduction of a new Eurotariff scheme for their gradual decline until it reaches 24 euro cents per one-minute call by 2016. The new price scheme should enter into force as of 2014.

In fact, the current price ceiling of €0.39 per one-minute talk applies only to outgoing voice communications. The cost of a text message should reach €0.10 by 2016, compared to the current ceiling of €0.11. The draft regulations will affect the rates of mobile operators for Internet surfing via mobile phones while the subscriber is abroad in another EU member-state. The price per megabyte should be €0.90 instead of the current €2.5. Officially, the proposals will become effective in June.

According to Neelie Kroes' ideas, users should be allowed to opt for an alternative roaming provider while retaining their existing mobile number. This new chapter in the regulation, which is dedicated to the division of roaming services, will lead to the market penetration of different types of operators. By offering special roaming packages, they will actually emerge as a new alternative to traditional telecoms.

First, the new draft proposals must be approved by the EU commissioners and, afterwards, they should be endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The current price ceilings on roaming calls were also introduced in compliance with the Eurotariff scheme voted by the EP in 2007 at the insistence of the then EU Commissioner for Information Technology, Viviane Reding.

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