European Council agrees to lower mutual roaming tariffs for providers
The European Council on Tuesday approved the European Commission’s proposal to reduce mutual mobile roaming charges for providers. The wholesale price cap is helping the EU’s roam-like-at-home drive.
This does not concern tariffs for end users, but the tariffs that providers charge each other when customers roam on their networks. By lowering mutual roaming rates for providers, providers in some countries, including the Benelux, are spending less money on abolishing roaming rates than they would otherwise. The measure will also come into effect in the non-EU member states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway a little after June 15.
As of June 15, 2017, providers are not allowed to charge their customers if they use their bundle abroad. Providers may charge these costs to each other, subject to the applicable maximum rates.
The maximum mutual rate for data is 7.70 euros per GB from 15 June and that will decrease in steps in the coming years to 2.50 euros per GB in 2022. The European Commission presented the proposal at the beginning of February. Parliament approved the deal on Thursday by 549 votes to 27, with 50 MPs abstaining. The European Council, which includes the heads of government of the 28 EU member states, has now definitively endorsed the proposal.
The amounts represent a compromise compared to the lower amounts proposed by the European Parliament last year and the higher rates that the EU Member States are betting on. The European Parliament wanted a starting rate of 4 euros per gigabyte, which should gradually decrease to 1 euro between 2017 and 2021. Member States proposed EUR 10 in 2017, with a decrease to EUR 5 per GB in 2021. For calls, the mutual roaming rate has been set at EUR 0.032 per minute as of 15 June 2017, and EUR 0.01 per message for SMS .
The Commission is committed to roam-like-at-home pricing and this agreement is the final step towards making this possible in the long run, according to Andrus Ansip, Vice President for Europe’s Digital Single Market. The wholesale cap is intended to bring prices closer to actual roaming charges and providers are not expected to pass them on to their customers. If providers have more customers going abroad than users coming from abroad to roam on their network, they lose money. Many providers will then apply the data bundles that are valid in their own country to the entire European Union.
| June 15, 2017 | €7.7/GB |
| January 1, 2018 | €6/GB |
| January 1, 2019 | €4.5/GB |
| January 1, 2020 | €3.5/GB |
| January 1, 2021 | €3/GB |
| January 1, 2022 | €2.5/GB |