New EU roaming rules mooted

EU consumers could pay domestic rates to access mobile internet data across the single market under EU Council proposals to grant travellers an allowance capped at their home tariffs.

The “roam like at home” option put forward by Latvia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, garnered the support of most member states at a Council meeting this week, EU diplomats said, paving the way for legislation to be drafted.

A first draft is expected in around two weeks, diplomats said, although it could still undergo further changes. Once member states in the Council agree on a position, they can negotiate with EU lawmakers and the executive European Commission to arrive at a final version.

Last year, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to flatten roaming fees within the EU by the end of 2015, as data-hungry consumers complained of the high and opaque cost of using their devices abroad.

Under the current system, network providers pay overseas counterparts a fee for each megabyte of data used by their customers abroad, then pass this cost on to consumers in their monthly bill. But the cost to consumers of accessing data abroad is frequently much higher than at home. In some well-publicised cases, travellers have received bills of thousands of euro on their return.

According to the proposal, operators would have to provide data to consumers abroad at domestic rates up to a limited allowance, which has not been specified.

Beyond this allowance, operators will not be able to charge more than the maximum wholesale prices, currently 0.05 euro per minute or megabyte of data. Many consumers pay over 0.20 euro per minute or megabyte of data abroad.

Member states with cheap domestic rates, as in eastern Europe, worry their operators will be forced to raise domestic prices if the wholesale tariffs they pay other operators when their customers travel abroad are not lowered.