EU to End Roaming Charges By June 2017

Photo source: ec.europa.eu

Roaming charges will cease to exist in the European Union as of June 15, 2017, according to a recent agreement between the European Parliament and the Council.

According to the agreement, when travelling in the EU, mobile phone users will pay the same price as at home, with no extra charges. Consumers will pay the same price for calls, texts and mobile data wherever they are travelling in the EU.

“Calling a friend when you are at home or in another EU country won’t make a difference on your bill”, the Commission underlined in an announcement.

Already from April 2016, roaming will become even cheaper: operators will only be able to charge a small additional amount to domestic prices up to €0.05 per minute of call made, €0.02 per SMS sent, and €0.05 per MB of data (excl. VAT).

Guaranteed open Internet

The agreement also enshrines for the first time the principle of net neutrality into EU law: users will be free to access the content of their choice, they will not be unfairly blocked or slowed down anymore, and paid prioritisation will not be allowed.

“Europeans have been calling and waiting for the end of roaming charges as well as for net neutrality rules. They have been heard”, said Andrus Ansip, Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market.

The agreement between the European Parliament and the Council comes almost two years after the European Commission put forward its proposal for a telecoms single market.