EC withdraws roaming fair-use proposal on Juncker's order

News Wireless Europe 9 SEP 2016
EC withdraws roaming fair-use proposal on Juncker's order
The European Commission announced that it's withdrawing its proposal for the fair-use limits on free roaming in the EU, just days after it was first issued. In a brief statement, the EC said the proposal was withdrawn at the order of Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the Commission. 

The EC said the decision was taken "in light of the initial feedback received", and it was working on a new proposal, which it aims to present "soon". The Commission had planned to have the implementing regulation on the fair-use policy passed by the end of this year, in time for operators to prepare for the end of all roaming surcharges in the EU in June 2017. 

The Commission's initial proposal had been to allow mobile users to 'roam like home', at the same price as domestic services, for a minimum 90 days a year. They would also be expected to connect to their home network at least once every 30 days. In addition, operators could impose a fair-use amount on customers with unlimited plans, based on their average usage in their home market. After exceeding the fair use, mobile customers would be subject to additional charges, at the same level as the proposed wholesale roaming rates in the EU.

The 90-day limit was already higher than many operators expected, with Free in France offering 35 days per country as standard and KPN in the Netherlands recently introducing a 60-day limit. The Spanish government had called for a limit of 30 days on roam like hone. However, some members of the European Parliament had criticised the proposal as going too far, saying the fair-use limitations were not in line with the promise of the original legislation to end all roaming charges. 

After the release of the Commission's first proposal, Vice-President Andrus Ansip, in charge of the Digital Single Market, said the fair-use policy would mean roaming charges still would disappear "for the vast majority of us". He noted that Europeans who travel do so on average 12 days per year, meaning the Commission's proposal goes "much further" by abolishing roaming charges for at least 90 days per year.

The operators' association ETNO said it wants a fair-use clause to remain, saying it is "essential to the proper functioning of European telecom markets" and prevents abuses, "which is also in the interest of consumers". It noted that the original regulation called for a limit on 'roam like home' based on periodic travelling, and the 90-day threshold proposed by the Commission is "well beyond such definition". 

Categories:

Mobile

Regions:

Europe

Tags:

Voice services, Data services, Messaging, Product specifications & quality, Regulations, Wholesale, Pricing, Legislation - Lawsuits

Related Articles

EUROPE 17 JAN 2017

EEA EFTA states urge lower wholesale roaming cap

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway have declared that the wholesale international roaming prices caps proposed by the European Commission are too high. Subcommittee II on the Free Movement of Services, part of the European Economic Area (EEA) Standing Committee of the EFTA states, said the proposed caps are higher than the assumed underlying costs of providing wholesale roaming services.

EUROPE 15 DEC 2016

EC confirms roaming fair-use rules, to take effect in Jan

The European Commission has published the roaming implementing regulation covering the fair-use rules for when roaming surcharges end in June 2017. The regulation will be published in the EU's official gazette on 17 December and come into effect 20 days later. The text outlines when mobile operators may impose additional charges for roaming, either if the customer is abusing the 'fair use'of roam-like-home rates, or if the operator cannot cover its costs when offering roam-like-home rates.

EUROPE 8 DEC 2016

EC proposes data roaming cap for prepaid, unlimited plans

The European Commission has issued new draft rules on the 'fair use' of roaming and said it aims to finalise the rules in the next week. The deadline is 15 December to have the rules in place, so operators have enough time to prepare for the planned end to roaming surcharges next June. Following its initial proposal in September, the Commission said it consulted with the industry, consumer groups, regulators, the European Parliament and member states on further refining the rules. Its latest version gives f

EUROPE 16 NOV 2016

Dutch govt drops resistance to roaming fair-use plan

The Dutch government said it expects to support the EU compromise on roaming, minister for economic affairs Henk Kamp told parliament. The proposal on fair-use rules for roaming from next year is still under discussion in Brussels and a final proposal is not expected until 15 December. The aim is to give operators a way to recover their costs in exceptional circumstances, in order to support a return on their network investments. They would be allowed to charge extra for roaming. End-users would also see so

EUROPE 7 NOV 2016

Etno re-elects Tas board chair

Etno, an association representing European providers of digital communications and services, confirms Proximus' Steven Tas as executive board chair, elects new executive board member from Vivacom and welcomed Qualcomm as new observer member during its 52nd General Assembly. The assembly, hosted by the Belgian operator Proximus, gathered the representatives of Etno's 34 members and 7 observers, who include both telecom operators and vendors from Europe and beyond.

EUROPE 21 SEP 2016

EC drops limits on roam like home

The European Commission has decided against limiting the number of days EU residents can take advantage of 'roam like home' and instead will leave it up to operators to intervene if they find customers are using free roaming excessively. European Commissioner for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip announced at a press conference that the Commission was abandoning its earlier proposal to cap roam like home at 90 days from June 2017, when all roaming surcharges are planned to end in the EU. EU residents w

EUROPE 20 SEP 2016

Dutch govt calls for lowest possible wholesale roaming rates

The Dutch government will push for the lowest possible mobile roaming wholesale prices in the EU council, minister Henk Kamp said in response to questions from parliament. MP Martin Bosma from the liberal VVD party had questioned the European Commission's proposal to limit 'roam like home' to 90 days a year, saying this does not meet the aims of the digital single market. The minister noted that the original legislation approved by the European Parliament to end roaming surcharges from June 2015 called for

EUROPE 14 SEP 2016

EC to propose new roaming rules in next week

The European Commission will propose in the next week new rules on the fair-use of 'roam like home' in the EU, President Jean-Claude Juncker announced in his 'State of the Union' address to Parliament. "When you roam, it should be like at home," Juncker said. "As of the next week you'll see a new improved draft on roaming." The previous proposal setting rules for operators to impose fair-use limits on roaming at domestic rates were withdrawn just days after the EC's first proposal, at Juncker's orders.

EUROPE 9 SEP 2016

Juncker trekt Commissievoorstel in over roaming

De Europese Commisse heeft het voorstel voor roaming ingetrokken, slechts enkele dagen nadat het concept voor het eerst was gepubliceerd, met daarin de 30 dagen/90 dagen per jaar grenzen voor fair use roaming in de EU. In een kort bericht op de website van de Europese Commissie staat dat het voorstel is ingetrokken op gezag van Jean-Claude Juncker, de voorzitter van de Europese Commissie. Een reden wordt niet gegeven, net zo min als details over het nieuwe voorstel dat ervoor in de plaats zal komen. De Comm

PORTUGAL 9 SEP 2016

Portuguese operators say 90 days free roaming 'excessive'

The association representing Portuguese telecom operators, Apritel has criticized as "excessive" the number of days proposed for free roaming in the EU by the European Commission, reports Jornal de Negocios. It warned that the move could have a negative impact as it only benefits the 15 percent of Portuguese citizens that spend their holidays outside of Portugal. Apritel also pointed out that the EC proposal is very permissive, as it does not impose any restrictions in terms of consumption volumes when roam

EUROPE 5 SEP 2016

EC proposes cap of 90 days a year on roam like home

The European Commission has issued its first proposal for a fair-use policy for roaming, suggesting a cap of 90 days per year on the use of 'roam like home' rates in the EU. After using 'roam like home' for 90 days a year, customers would be subject to additional surcharges on EU roaming, but these could not be any higher than the Commission's proposed new wholesale roaming rates. The Commission's draft must still be discussed with the member states and Berec. It already held a public consultation earlier t

SPAIN 28 JUL 2016

Spain proposes limiting free EU roaming to 30 days a year

Spain's communications regulator CNMC has written to the European Commission with a proposal that free EU roaming be limited to 30 days a year to prevent abuses of the system, reports Sabemos Digital. Roaming fees are set to be abolished on 15 June 2017, after which consumers will pay the same rates as in their home countries when using mobile services abroad in the EU. However, countries such as Spain that annually receive millions of EU tourists could be adversely affected by the new 'roam like home' rule

EUROPE 15 JUN 2016

EC adopts wholesale roaming cut proposal

The European Commission has adopted a proposal to cut wholesale roaming charges as part of the process to abolish all retail roaming in the EU by mid-June 2017. Following the public consultation on wholesale roaming rates, the EC has proposed cutting maximum wholesale roaming charges to 4 eurocents a minute for calls, 1 eurocent per SMS and 0.85 eurocents per megabyte of data. Wholesale prices currently stand at 5 eurocents a minute for calls, 2 eurocents for SMS and 5 eurocents per megabyte of data. In a s

EUROPE 27 OCT 2015

European Parliament approves net neutrality, end to roaming

The European Parliament has approved the Telecom Single Market legislation, opening the way to an end to roaming surcharges from mid-2017 and protection for net neutrality across the EU. The MEPs approved the text without any amendments to the legislation approved by the EU Council earlier this month, allowing the bill to become law after its publication in the Official Journal in the coming days. Under the new law, mobile operators will no longer be able to charge extra for calls, texts or data when roamin

Just In

16:42

SLT-Mobitel launches 5G network in Sri Lanka

16:19

Dialog Axiata launches 5G network, connects 1.5 million subscribers

15:56

UK govt to ban AI-enabled nudification apps to protect women, girls

15:42

3 UK launches last-minute Christmas sale

Commentary

13:56

Video market set for slower growth ahead

11:38

Netflix buys Warner Bros to deepen content catalogue

11:11

KPN's mixed performance in Q3 raises questions for strategy day

15:26

Stock markets breaking records but what happened to Odido's IPO plans?

Background

01:04

The week in telecom: Wi-Fi bolt-ons take off to boost broadband growth, video market works on consolidation

01:39

The week in telecom: Netflix wins bidding for Warner Bros, Apple poaches new execs, Samsung debuts trifold

13:51

Proximus vs. Telenet: Proximus performs better in Q3 while Telenet uses up cash

14:16

Proximus Domestic still struggling with low margins

Complete profile

Before downloading the whitepaper, we would like to ask you to complete your profile with company and position. After confirming you will receive the white paper.