EU may end all roaming charges

[wco81]

NY Times article says there's momentum for adopting this new proposal to end roaming fees:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/te...tum.html?_r=1&

But it occurs to me that even if this law is adopted, it may not apply to prepaid products that travelers would buy.

It could be like those deals which require payments from a local bank account, or maybe postpaid accounts.

So it may benefit EU residents but not necessarily travelers from outside the EU who visit.

[NFH]

Originally Posted by wco81

But it occurs to me that even if this law is adopted, it may not apply to prepaid products that travelers would buy.

In some EU countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, prepaid is the norm and contracts are the exception. Therefore it is very unlikely that the European Commission would exempt prepaid accounts from the legislation.

[tux]

It would be anyway a nonsense

I'm waiting for the 11th Semptember for the new proposal for a single TLC market. It's going to be a "hot" autumn

[wco81]

I just meant in the sense that you have no-contract plans like Free in France that requires a bank account.

Offers way more than prepaid products in that country.

[smudge]

EU Commission unveils new plan to cap cost of phone calls:

(Reuters) - The cost of cross border phone calls in Europe will be capped to the price of a long-distance domestic call, the European Commission proposed on Wednesday (11 Sept 2013), announcing plans to further harmonize the EU's telecoms market.

The proposal, which also suggests capping the price for users taking calls on a mobile while travelling in Europe, suggests granting the EU veto power over sales of mobile spectrum by member countries.

"The European Commission says no to roaming premiums, yes to net neutrality, yes to investment, yes to new jobs," EU telecoms chief Neelie Kroes said in a statement.

The reform is designed to encourage telecoms companies to invest more in broadband network infrastructure, ensuring that European citizens can download data from the Internet as quickly as their counterparts in Asia and North America.

The Commission also hopes limiting telephony costs in the bloc where international mobile calls vary from 35 cents to 1.19 euros per minute will benefit businesses. It said the projected 0.5 percent fall in operators' revenues will be offset by more usage.

It may, however, struggle to get the blessing it requires from all 28 EU governments and the European Parliament for it to become law.

While they would likely back lower call prices, the proposed veto could make it harder for governments to tap an important source of revenue.

The proposal includes better coordination of the sales of mobile spectrum by EU countries and veto power by the Commission. It would allow operators to charge more for carrying traffic at higher speeds.

The Commission also said it would seek feedback on the possibility of creating a single EU regulator for the industry, a sensitive issue for countries wary of losing power to the European Union's executive.

EU Commission unveils plan to cap cost of phone calls | Reuters

[smudge]

Commission adopts regulatory proposals for a Connected Continent:

EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Commission adopts regulatory proposals for a Connected Continent

[wco81]

So how typically do the EU member nations ratify the proposals of this commission?

And do the carriers lobby their home nations to resist or reject this proposal?

[inquisitor]

ROAMING:

• Operators will lose the right to charge for incoming calls while a user is travelling abroad in EU, and additionally face a choice between a carrot and a stick.
  
• The carrot is that they can be largely free of European regulation, if they extend their domestic plans/bundles from 2014 so that by July 2016 at the latest customers are able to use their phones and smartphones while travelling through the EU at domestic rates. There will be a glidepath from July 2014 allowing operators to adapt either the number of plans they offer or the number of countries they cover at domestic rates
  
• The stick is being subject to the 2012 roaming regulation which forces companies to offer their customers the possibility to roam with new competitors (alternative roaming providers)as of July 2014. Form this date, acustomer will have the right to leave their domestic operator when travelling and take cheaper roaming services from a local company or a rival company in the home country.
  
• Operators should take advantage of the opportunities to offer Roam Like at Home to their consumers. The Commission will review the implementation of the Roaming regulation in 2016 and may consider further Regulatory options.

Given that the technical implementation of the possibility to select an alternative roaming provider is quite complex and expensive (no matter if realized by "single IMSI", "single IMSI+", "dual IMSI" or for data "local break-out" - all explained here on p. 8) I wonder if any operator will pursue this path or if they will prefer the "carrot".

[NFH]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Given that the technical implementation of the possibility to select an alternative roaming provider is quite complex and expensive (no matter if realized by "single IMSI", "single IMSI+", "dual IMSI" or for data "local break-out" - all explained here on p. 8) I wonder if any operator will pursue this path or if they will prefer the "carrot".

Let's hope that at least one "alternative roaming provider" becomes available, otherwise all the networks opt to allow this instead, and will then say that it's not their fault that there are no "alternative roaming providers".

[VladS]

Originally Posted by NFH

Let's hope that at least one "alternative roaming provider" becomes available, otherwise all the networks opt to allow this instead, and will then say that it's not their fault that there are no "alternative roaming providers".

Unless the whole EU market switches to the 'stick', the few brave "alternative roaming providers" that choose to come online don't stand much of a chance in the long term and will likely end up in the same boat as United Mobile and the other roaming SIM pioneers.

Incumbents will make it very difficult and pricey for such providers to interconnect with their networks and to operate in general. A good example is the implementation of exorbitant certification fees and longer trouble resolution for third party access customers. We're seeing this as we speak in Eastern Canada with third party IPS' sharing the incumbent's cable network (an incumbent's customer problem gets fixed in 6-24 hours while third party customers my have to wait for up to four weeks to get the same issue resolved).