The European Parliament and Council have reached a compromise on the extent of the reduction to wholesale roaming rates. Under the agreement, the maximum wholesale charge for data will be EUR 7.7 per GB from 17 June and then continue to decrease in stages.
From 1 January 2018, the cap will drop to EUR 6.0 per GB, from 1 January 2019 to EUR 4.5 per GB, from 1 January 2020 to EUR 3.5 per GB, from 1 January 2021 to EUR 3.0 per GB and from 1 January 2022 to EUR 2.5 per GB. The rates are higher than those originally proposed by the Parliament, but lower than the Council's first decision and European Commission's proposal.
The maximum charge for calls was agreed to fall from the current EUR 0.05 per minute to EUR 0.032 from 15 June, and the wholesale rate for text messages will decrease from EUR 0.02 to EUR 0.01 per message. The European Commission is tasked with reviewing the rates every two years, with its first report due at the end of 2019.
Together with the retail fair use policy, the new wholesale caps will support the plan to end all retail surcharges for roaming in the EU from June. The member states must still give their formal approval for the wholesale rates in the coming weeks.
