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. This is thought to be using roaming services for purposes other than periodic travel. It will be up to the European Commission to define the amount of fair use, with a deadline for the decision of 15 December 2016.
For roaming that goes beyond fair use, a small fee may be charged, and this fee cannot be higher than the maximum wholesale rate that operators pay. The wholesale rates are also planned to come down from current levels. The European Commission and Berec will review the wholesale roaming market and propose a new law by 15 June 2016. According to a statement from the Council, this will also include "safeguards" aimed at helping operators recover their costs for providing roaming.
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. For calls received, the maximum surcharge will be the weighted average maximum mobile termination rate across the EU, to be set by the Commission by the end of 2015. The total retail price charged for roaming from the end of April 2016 - the domestic rate plus the maximum surcharge - also must be less than the current retail price caps on roaming, which are set at EUR 0.19 per minute for making a call, EUR 0.06 per SMS and EUR 0.20 per MB.
All of the new rules, as well as the agreed net neutrality regulation, are expected to take effect 30 April 2016.
