Consumer victory hailed after final deal done on roaming charges

The end of a torturous road leading to the abolition of roaming charges across the EU came considerably closer early on Wednesday morning when a deal was struck capping the wholesale charges telecom operators are allowed to charge.

A deal between the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament on such a cap was essential if the curtain was to come down on retail roaming charges on June 15th as planned.

It comes after 10 years of incremental steps aimed at reducing what were once usurious charges imposed by operators. The final piece of the puzzle was agreeing the wholesale price cap – the charges associated with data usage proved particularly contentious.

The agreement should finally bring an end to shock bills. The wholesale roaming cost on data will be capped at €7.70 per gigabyte from June 2017, falling to €2.50 per gigabyte in 2022. The cap for making calls will fall from its current level of five cent per minute to 3.2 cent per minute and the cost of text messages will fall from two cent to just one cent.

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The European Commission will review the wholesale caps every two years and propose new ones if necessary. The deal done this week will have to be ratified by the full European Parliament and member states, although that is seen as likely.

While agreement to abolish retail roaming charges was reached last year, the question of who would cover the costs remained unanswered until this week as telecom operators still have to pay each other to keep their customers connected abroad.

Cost coverage

Finish MEP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, who is steering the legislation through parliament, said the deal meant "we can deliver what was promised. Like consumer organisations all over Europe, we, too, see this as a great victory for the European consumers. The agreed caps ensure cost coverage for efficient operators throughout Europe but are low enough to sustain competition on the European telecom markets," she said.

"We are relieved that EU legislators have shown ambition to deliver on their promise to end roaming charges," said the director general of the European Consumer Organisation, Monique Goyens. "This deal ensures that roaming without surcharges will become a reality in June.

“The price caps . . . have a direct impact on how much mobile data a consumer can use when abroad. The lower the wholesale price cap, the larger the amount of data that consumers will have while roaming.”

MEP for Ireland South Seán Kelly joined the chorus of those welcoming the conclusion of the negotiations on a wholesale price cap, saying the result represented "an important win for the European Parliament, who pushed hard for ambition against an often reluctant Council of member state governments".

He said the result, while not as high profile as the 2015 vote that set the June 2017 date for Roam-like-at-home, “is vital as it puts caps on the wholesale prices, which essentially allows for this this to happen in a cost-effective manner”.