Roaming Charges Soon to Become a Thing of the Past

Travelling across Europe and having to pay roaming costs to use your mobile phone is set to become a thing of the past as the European Parliament will vote this week to eliminate it completely, with an end date of 15 June 2017 as the goal.

Up until this date, there will be a transitory period, which will be rolled out in two stages, whereby operators will be forced to reduce costs by 75% from April next year.

The battle to do away with the roaming service has gone on for more than ten years, but telephone operator lobbyists have managed to delay its disappearance, which should have come into force in December this year.

The measure has already been discussed and approved, however, one does have to read the small print, as there are conditions attached, which is what is being discussed and disputed in Parliament this week.

The current agreement, which is what MPs hope to change, is that roaming will only be eliminated during short stays abroad or during periodic travel. If a person is out of his own country and staying within another EU country for longer than three or four months, mobile phone operators are able to continue to charge the higher rate for roaming. This maximum period is what will be discussed this week.

Nevertheless, from April 2016, there will be a reduction in roaming tariffs. The maximum that operators will be able to charge will be 5 cents a minute for calls outside of the country, 2 cents for SMS messages, and 5 cents per megabyte for data.

So, in other words, if you make a call from Spain and it usually costs 15 cents, the maximum that you will be charged for that same call but if you were in France or Germany, for example, would be 20 cents.

Additionally, that same call would cost 15 cents – the same as it would in Spain – from 15 June 2017.

The European Commission and the European Council have already come to an agreement about abolishing roaming charges within the EU, and it is expected that it will be approved by the European Parliament in Strasburg without any problems.

Source: www.elpais.com