Wednesday, February 1, 2017

End of roaming fees in the EU: negotiators agree to wholesale prices – ICN Journal

Thanks to the political agreement of today on the rules and the rules on the policy of equitable use and sustainability adopted by the Commission in December of 2016, consumers can use their subscriptions when they travel periodically abroad

The representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agreed in the last hours how to regulate the markets for roaming, wholesale, that is to say, the prices that operators charge each other when their customers use other networks for Roaming in the EU. EU negotiators agreed on the following bonds in bulk:

– of 0.032 euros per minute of voice call, to June 15, 2017
– € 0.01 per SMS, from June 15, 2017
– A gradual reduction of 5 years for the limits of data that decreases of € 7,7 / GB (as of June 15, 2017) at € 6 per GB (from 1 January 2018), € 4,5 per GB (from 1 January 2019), 3.5 € per GB (as of 1 January 2020), 3 euros per GB (from 1 January 2021) and 2.5 euros per GB (from 1 January 2022).

Andrus Ansip, Vice-president of the Digital Single Market, welcomed the agreement:
"from the 15th of June, europeans will be able to travel in the EU without roaming charges and we have also ensured that the operators can continue to compete to offer the most attractive offers to their domestic markets. I sincerely thank the rapporteur of the European Parliament, Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, as all the negotiators of the European Parliament, as well as to the Presidency of malta to the Council of the EU and all involved in the realization of this milestone. happen."

The political agreement this evening is a final achievement for doing a job as a "wandering home," from the June 15, 2017, as provided for in the Regulation on the Single Telecommunications Market (TSM) . This means that when traveling in the EU, consumers will be able to call, send SMS or surf on your mobile at the same price they pay at home. The agreement makes the "roam-like-at-home" is sustainable for people and the companies, at the same time that it ensures the recovery of costs and maintaining competitive national markets of roaming at the wholesale level.

Thanks to the political agreement of today on the rules and the rules on the policy of equitable use and sustainability adopted by the Commission in December of 2016, consumers can use their subscriptions when they travel periodically abroad. If consumers exceed the limits of their contracts when roaming, additional charges shall not be greater than the limits of the roaming wholesale agreed today.

The Commission shall carry out a review of the wholesale market to the end of 2019 and will provide the co-legislators, a provisional assessment before December 15, 2018.

Next steps

The European Parliament and the Council must now formally approve the agreement reached today. The new wholesale prices for roaming will be applicable to the June 15, 2017, in time for operators to take all 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, to put an end to the charges that the telecom operators imposed to its customers each time they crossed a border while using your mobile device on holiday or during business trips. Since 2007, prices for roaming have declined by over 90%. Prices fell for the last time in April of 2016 , to 5 cents per minute of voice call, 2 cents per SMS and 5 cents per MB of data on the national rates. In 2015, and on the basis of a proposal from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council agreed to put an end to roaming charges for people who travel regularly in the EU . In December 2016, the Commission adopted the technical measures necessary for this to happen, including a policy of equitable use and a mechanism of sustainability . The Regulation on the single telecommunications market gave the Commission the task of reviewing the markets for roaming, wholesale and submit appropriate proposals before June 15, 2016 , in order to allow the removal of roaming charges to retail from June 15, 2017.

Tags: roaming roaming European Union

LikeTweet

No comments:

Post a Comment