The European Union Council has formally approved new rules to end mobile roaming charges and put in place net neutrality regulation as of mid-2017. The Council said its position at first reading was adopted without discussion at a meeting of the Competitiveness Council. The European Parliament is now expected to adopt the text at its plenary session in late October, with the regulation entering into force three days after its publication in the EU Official Journal, which will probably take place in November.
The EU has therefore taken another key step on the way to abolishing roaming charges and implementing the first EU-wide provisions to safeguard open internet access after the compromise between the member states and the European Parliament reached in July. Under the agreement, roaming surcharges in the European Union will be abolished from 15 June 2017, although operators will still be allowed to apply a 'fair use policy' to prevent abusive use.
Roaming prices will already come down from 30 April 2016, with the maximum surcharge on top of domestic rates set at the same level as current wholesale price caps for roaming in the EU. These are EUR 0.05 per minute for calls, EUR 0.02 for texts and EUR 0.05 per MB for data.
