EU may end all roaming charges

[wco81]

EU is still trying to set a date but it appears lobbying by national carriers has led to some potential compromises:

In April EU lawmakers gave it a ringing endorsement by overwhelmingly voting to abolish roaming fees by Dec. 15 2015.

But the Italian proposal, seen by Reuters, makes no mention of the date originally set by the European Parliament.

"The legislative date for the initial introduction of RLAH (roam like at home), subject to transitional measures and fair use limits, needs to be defined and is a significant political question," the draft document states.

Italy's undersecretary for telecoms Antonello Giacomelli reaffirmed on Friday his government's commitment to setting a date for abolishing roaming charges, a common headache for Europeans travelling across the continent.

"The Italian presidency has not proposed any delay to the end of roaming charges, on the contrary it intends to set a fixed date," he said in a statement.

"To this end it is trying to reach the best compromise between the different positions," he added.

ROAM LIKE AT HOME, UP TO A POINT

Though the draft will be further revised, it suggests a "glidepath", or gradual increase in the usage allowances that will be charged at domestic rates, towards the goal of "roam like at home" (RLAH) - a time where someone using, say, a British mobile phone in Italy will pay the same charges as if they were still in Britain.

But some countries are worried that spelling out exactly how gradually roaming fees should come to an end is too prescriptive and should be left to national regulators.

"It's very split," said another EU diplomat.

"Some member states ... are concerned about the investment effect it could have on their operators and therefore quite cautious about doing anything which they feel may harm some of their large incumbents."

Telecoms operators have protested against the end of roaming, although in private they admit that the fees must come to an end. However they say that doing so prematurely would remove a source of revenue that could hinder their ability to invest in upgrading their networks.

In a move seen as aimed at assuaging operators, the latest text under discussion foresees that users would pay domestic rates for using their mobile phone abroad only for a limited amount of consumption, the so-called 'fair use'. Anything above that would be charged at a higher rate.

"The possibility of introducing a fair use clause has been well received by all member states," Giacomelli said, adding that it would require further work.

The daily fair use limits for mobile phones would be calculated on the basis of "average annual domestic consumption in the EU".

The text suggests that "in an initial period the minimum fair use limit would be defined as a fraction of the daily average domestic consumption", and would gradually rise so as to fully reflect average daily use. It does not spell out how long the process would take.

Italy sees the "fair use" mechanism as a way to avoid people abusing the system, such as by purchasing SIM cards in EU countries where tariffs are lower, and then using them in countries where fees are higher.

Operators fear this could lead to an over-competitive internal market for mobile phones and a damaging drop in rates.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/0...0HL2AO20140926

[andy]

"... doing so prematurely ..." they whinge

The single European market was supposed to have been enacted many years ago, observed by most other commerce, and mobile operators have been dragged kicking and screaming towards it for long enough time for them to have had plenty of fair warning

Why are they prevaricating now about "setting a date"?

One date has already been set. Free incoming calls etc by less than a year from now. Stop pissing about trying to invent more bureaucracy and excuses and just get on with it.

[wco81]

Well the telecoms are apparently striking back.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31748592

European regulators have dropped plans to ban roaming charges and have proposed net neutrality rules allowing privileged access in some cases.

They called for an "intermediate step" that would still allow carriers to charge more to use mobiles abroad.

And net neutrality rules would bar discrimination in internet access, but allow prioritisation of some services.

The proposals were a significant departure from those first floated in 2013, observers said.

According to documents seen by the BBC, far from ending data roaming charges as was promised, the European Commission has recommended that operators be allowed to add surcharges to their domestic rates.

The proposals were said to be "transitional" and mindful of "wholesale costs" incurred by the mobile operators.

But, according to Ovum analyst Matthew Howett, they would amount to the continuation of data roaming charges until at least 2018, when European lawmakers would reconsider whether or not to ban them.

The watering down of the original plan would be a blow to consumers, he told the BBC. However, he said, that was tempered by the fact that many operators had already introduced more reasonable charges.

[wolfbln]

Yes it seems that the telcos (or cellcos) have won this round..... They had too many poins on their side: markets in Europe are still organized nationally, licenses are auctioned country by country a.s.o. One has to admit that Europe is only good to tear down borders if it's good for business. But it's another story, when you can actually make big money by borders like here. Then the spirit of Europe is just an idea (or illusion).

So I think we will see a further gradual lowering of the rate caps for roaming like they did in the past. But no ban on roaming charges altogether. Some providers may scrap incoming roaming (which is really minimal nowadays) voluntarily. But the rest is still big, big money.

The best example are data: EU cap stands at 20c/MB plus tax. And most of the offers are just below the cap. So they sell you 1 MB for about 23c or 1 GB for 230€. Average price in package for domestic use in Europe ranges 5-20€ per GB (mostly around 10€). So the roaming cap is the 23-fold of the average domestic price for data.

In Germany some providers actually use this as a marketing scoop: They "promise" to sell you data for the same rate domestically and within the EU. They do this with a trick: The standard or default domestic rate is put so high (at around 23c/MB) that it matches the EU cap rate. No word of packages, of course. I think that was their strategy to undermine a roaming surcharges ban, if it had been ordered by law.

We still have a long way to go on this continent. But there must remain something, you do better somewhere else LOL

[NFH]

Originally Posted by wolfbln

In Germany some providers actually use this as a marketing scoop: They "promise" to sell you data for the same rate domestically and within the EU. They do this with a trick: The standard or default domestic rate is put so high (at around 23c/MB) that it matches the EU cap rate. No word of packages, of course. I think that was their strategy to undermine a roaming surcharges ban, if it had been ordered by law.

This wouldn't comply with the proposed rules. The pricing has to be identical, meaning that if it's €10 for 1GB domestically, then it also has to be €10 for 1GB elsewhere in the EEA.

[wco81]

Are those for prepaid or postpaid?

A lot of prepaid bundles really don't allow for overages do they? You get a certain amount for a certain period and you're either throttled when you hit the cap or you have to wait and but another bundle?

[NFH]

Originally Posted by wco81

Are those for prepaid or postpaid?

Both. The proposed legislation makes no distinction between the timing of payment for the service.

[wco81]

Hmm so if I buy a 1 GB prepaid bundle for £10 in the UK and I go across the Chunnel with it, what exactly would happen? I have no credit left on the SIM so it wouldn't roam in France or Netherlands?

Or if I had credit, it would roam and draw down that credit? Would I have to change the APN?

[NFH]

The way in which the service is charged and the availability of the service would be the same, regardless of whether or not you had crossed the English Channel. If you had bought a bundle, then the usage would be taken from the bundle. If you hadn't bought a bundle, then it would use up credit. Your location within the EEA would not change this.

[wolfbln]

Well. We are talking about a proposal of the European Parliament which is not going to be reality, at least in the near future, i'm afraid.

The proposals of the Commission clearly favours the cellcos and is a slap in the face of the Parliament (and may be the consumer).

If it is really taking place one time, I think two things are going to happen:
- roaming will be severely restricted to own networks or partner networks only
- prices for data will go up in cheap countries like the Baltics or SE Europe and prices will fall in expensive countries.
Because a selective pricing for a specific EU state will not be feasible anymore. Users will take a real "unlimited" 4G data SIM card from e.g. Play in Poland and use it on its roaming partners somewhere else.
As a matter of fact, this is one of the few points of the telcos, I can comprehend.