Roaming in Europe: an extinction not as global as all that.
European legislation: The final burial of voice and data roaming charges will be held next June. But freedom from charging will not be applied all year ...
Back-pedalling ton he end roaming charges in Europe? As we know, the European Commission plunges year after year yet another nail in the coffin of roaming charges, these surcharges when the mobile user calls or surfs the Internet from another country.
"We are in the final stretch before the end of roaming charges in 2017. It is not just savings for Europeans but also about breaking down barriers to a single digital market", the European Commissioner in charge of the legislative dossier declared last June.
Indeed, from 15 June 2017, these costs will have completely disappeared. The death of roaming charges was in the Telecoms Package, this set of European laws designed to reorganize the sector in the EU-28 and to achieve a single market. At the end of 2013, the Commissioner explicitly proposed the end of the roaming charges- for data, calls and SMS - in 2014. Last year, the European Parliament had officially recorded the death of these costs by 15 December 2015.
But the lobby of the operators has been active in passing, and it must be said that those costs represent a true manna for them (4 billion per year), especially for tourist countries like France. Thus, it is June 2017 that was chosen.
Still, the operators seems to have snatched a bit of a rebate ... while the principle of a disappearance is not challenged, it will not be comprehensive. Brussels has indeed unveiled on Monday its proposal to limit roaming charges: finally, free voice / data will apply "only" during the first 90 days spent abroad, with a maximum of 30 days in a row. A return journey in one day will benefit from the freedom from charges in order not to penalize frontier workers.
Regarding the data, a ceiling (based on the average consumption of the subscriber) may also be applied. In both cases, it is for operators to prevent abuses. Beyond this period of 90 days, operators can maintain the charges.
Is this a defeat for consumers and for the same Commission which sought to end definitively with roaming? It is about having it both ways with the operators who are much more fragile than in the past. On the consumer side, observers estimate that 90 days per year grace period seems largely sufficient.
This roaming proposal will now be discussed in Parliament and the European Council.
Sourceiour:
Comments
Post a Comment