Operators slow down the elimination of roaming in the European Union

The telephone operators have succeeded in getting the European Council to reverse the European Commission's decision to implement the elimination of the surcharge on mobile roaming from the end of this year. The surcharge will be applied until at least mid-2018.

 

According to a report in the daily newspaper El País, calling or receiving calls when traveling to any EU country will continue to be charged. Consumers were promised very happy when the European Parliament approved by overwhelming majority almost a year ago the disappearance on December 15, 2015 of roaming.

 The agreement, adopted on March 4, is of great significance for users, “but it has gone unnoticed”, accordingún the newspaper;

The proposal has gone unnoticed, partly overshadowed by the net neutrality resolution adopted at the same forum, and by the fact that neither the EU institution nor the operators have publicized the details of the proposal.

Instead of the absolute disappearance of the surcharge that had been approved by the Parliament in April 2014, it establishes a intermediate system that obliges operators to offer a “basic roaming volume”which allows customers traveling a certain amount of calls, text messages and data usage for a limited time, which will be included in the service packages they have contracted with their operator in the countries of origin. That is, these minimum consumption of calls and data from abroad will be treated as domestic traffic and will not be charged any extra, being billed within the contracted tariff package.

But from that minimum volume, the surcharge, also called roaming fee, is maintained, although according to the text approved by the Commission, the companies must lower the current prices.

With the current maximum rates, in force since last July 1, the cost of calls to Spain made from the EU cannot exceed 19 euro cents per minute; receiving calls costs a maximum of five cents per minute and connecting with your mobile or tablet costs 20 cents per megabyte (MB). VAT must be added to all these prices.

Now the crux of the matter is precisely to determine the call, SMS and data limits that fall within this "basic roaming" band, and the new roaming tariffs to be set for calls that exceed this limit. The new regulation will apply from June 30, 2016 and the Commission will assess "by mid-2018" the appropriateness of the end of roaming. In the meantime, negotiations between the Parliament and the Council, which are likely to be arduous, are underway to finalize all aspects of the new regulation.