EU may end all roaming charges

[wolfbln]

Hi dg7feq

I've just realized the same, but it's really hard to believe.
Up to now, we had caps, that the EU imposed on roaming.
For data in 2014/5 it is 20ct per MB plus tax.

In the new decision, they don't speak about caps but surcharges:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release...15-5275_en.htm

Quote: As from April 2016, prices will be even cheaper: operators will be able to charge a small additional amount to domestic prices up to €0.05 per minute of call made, €0.02 per SMS sent, and €0.05 per MB of data (excl. VAT).

If this is true, the reporting on most news wires was wrong: no new lower CAPS, but a limit to SURCHARGES for roaming.

But this absolutely backfires in many markets:
In Germany and some other markets domestic data for instance are sold at a very high default rate up to €0.24 per MB. That's sometimes even above the current roaming cap of €0.20 plus tax. If no new CAPS are to be introduced, but they are replaced by limits to SURCHARGES which will be limited to €0.05 per MB, they can even charge €0.30 per MB (€0.24 domestic rate + €0.06 surcharge) because it's always referred to the default data rate.
There is no obligation to offer packages. Furthermore, offering roaming packages can even become dangerous for the providers, as they may refer to a domestic package. Then as far as I understand the surcharge principle, data must not be more than 5ct/MB more expensive. But how do you calculate a surcharge limit, when you don't have a equal domestic package on offer? You can only use the default data rate of the provider.

I hope this is not going to be true!!!

[dg7feq]

Yes, most websites overlooked the smallprint and just copied the first few lines.
For the customer this can indeed be a sharp increase in pricing, especially for international calling within EU, which is currently also included in the capped pricing - but often very high in our domestic tariffs.

[NFH]

Originally Posted by wolfbln

In Germany and some other markets domestic data for instance are sold at a very high default rate up to €0.24 per MB. That's sometimes even above the current roaming cap of €0.20 plus tax. If no new CAPS are to be introduced, but they are replaced by limits to SURCHARGES which will be limited to €0.05 per MB, they can even charge €0.30 per MB (€0.24 domestic rate + €0.06 surcharge) because it's always referred to the default data rate.
There is no obligation to offer packages. Furthermore, offering roaming packages can even become dangerous for the providers, as they may refer to a domestic package. Then as far as I understand the surcharge principle, data must not be more than 5ct/MB more expensive. But how do you calculate a surcharge limit, when you don't have a equal domestic package on offer? You can only use the default data rate of the provider.

You have misunderstood. The network can charge you only €0.05+VAT per megabyte on top of what you usually pay. For example, if your network charges you €7 for 1GB, then any roaming usage still uses up your 1GB allowance but your network can surcharge you €0.05+VAT per megabyte on top of this.

Except for the €0.05/MB surcharge, if the network applies a different price for roaming from the price for domestic usage (and a different price includes non-application of bundles and allowances), then it would be in breach of the new regulations. The regulations make no distinction between bundled charges and incremental charges; they are both enforceable as domestic charges when roaming.