EU Institutions Provisionally Agree on New Mobile Roaming Rules, Price Caps
EU governments and lawmakers tentatively cut a deal to reduce mobile roaming charges, the Council of Ministers, European Parliament and European Commission said Wednesday. The compromise, which was endorsed by the council’s Permanent Representatives Committee, must be formally approved by Parliament and the council. They said that’s expected to happen, respectively, in May and June. The exact language wasn’t available Wednesday. Competitive telcos welcomed the agreement, but mobile operators said its price caps are unreasonable.
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The regulation introduces structural measures to let wireless subscribers, beginning in July 2014, sign up for alternative mobile roaming offers separate from their national services contracts, while keeping the same number, the EU bodies said. From July this year, virtual mobile operators and resellers without their own networks will have the right to access other providers’ networks at regulated wholesale prices to offer roaming and national services to customers, they said. This is expected to boost competition among operators, giving them more incentives to offer better roaming prices and services, they said.
The agreement also caps voice, text and roaming charges, the EU institutions said. By July 2014, consumers will pay retail rates, excluding value-added tax, of 0.20 euro ($0.27) per megabyte for data roaming; 0.19 euro each minute for phone calls made; 0.05 euro a minute for calls received; and 0.06 euro for SMS, per message, they said. The wholesale costs operators charge each other will drop to 0.05 euro per megabyte of data; 0.05 euro a phone call per minute; and 0.02 euro per SMS by that date, they said.
Under the new rules, consumers will be given information about roaming charges when they travel outside the EU to help avoid “bill shock” when they use their smart devices, the EC said. Those traveling outside Europe will get a warning text message, email or pop-up window when they approach euro euro of data downloads or some pre-agreed level, it said. From July 2014, mobile providers in visited countries will be able to directly offer travelers data roaming services on their own networks, at closer to national prices, it said. As mobile data use intensifies, travelers are “likely to find this WiFi-like option very attractive,” the EC said. It got what it wanted from the negotiations and more, as the local-option and bill-shock extension provisions weren’t in its original proposal, an EC spokeswoman told us.
Alternative providers recognize continued wholesale and retail caps “might be the most reasonable solution” to achieving the EU digital agenda target of bringing domestic and roaming prices closer, said European Competitive Telecom Association Chairman Tom Ruhan. ECTA’s fixed-only members are also pleased about the wholesale roaming access obligation on all mobile network operators and the other structural measures, which could lead to better competition in roaming services by virtual mobile operators, he said.
The GSM Association Europe welcomed the draft’s intention not to impose indefinite retail price regulation. The level of those caps was a key element in the negotiations, said GSMA Europe Director Martin Whitehead. Setting the right level to give consumers a safety net without undermining the competitive effect of the structural measures “is a delicate balance,” he said. The original EC proposals were appropriate, but the compromise didn’t get it right, he said.
Mobile operators agreed with the tentative move to take a technology-neutral approach to separating domestic and roaming markets, Whitehead said. The Parliament and council seem to have accepted that telecom regulators are best positioned to define the technical solution, he said.