EU and mobile network 3 clash over roaming charges

The EU and mobile phone network, 3, are at loggerheads. The European Commission has come out against the company’s attempts to limit its data packages to domestic use only.

The EU had previously advised that its “roam like at home” policy — whereby customers pay domestic prices for using their phones irrespective of where they are travelling in the EU — would become a reality for all European travellers by June, 2017.

However, 3 yesterday announced that its “unlimited” data package would not come under the policy, as it is an “additional service benefit” and not part of their customers’ bundle.

The network said its new plans offered “All You Can Eat” data as a service benefit while in Ireland. The company said its core package offered between 1GB and 7GB of data, and charges of €61.50 per GB would apply for data used above these allowances while roaming.

However, the European Commission responded yesterday that its rules would not allow companies to offer “selective roaming”.

“There is no loophole by which part of the domestic data allowance could be regarded as gift or side benefit, and would, therefore, not count when travelling abroad,” the commission said.

“Doing so would appear like a clear case of circumvention, for which there is no basis in the roaming regulation. Thus, under the new rules, operators will not be allowed to offer only half a roaming experience to clients.”

It said the new EU rules “clearly cover data services, along with voice and SMS”.

“From 15 June on, every existing or new contract that includes roaming services will become a ‘roam like at home’ contract by default. There is no exemption for the data services, only exceptional limits in case of unlimited or very competitive offers,” the statement read.

However, last night the network showed little sign of changing its plans.

Despite the commission’s statement, 3 said it “is satisfied that our approach is compliant and allows us to continue to offer the best value to our customers”.

A spokesperson for Vodafone, meanwhile, said it “welcomes the regulation and is fully embracing it and applying it wholly and completely across all mobile tariffs”.

The spokesperson said Vodafone “has a unique roaming proposition”, because of the strength of its network internationally.

“This means that, with the EU regulation, we are not increasing prices, our tariffs stay exactly the same, and customers will be able to use their tariffs with no additional cost in EU-regulated countries,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Eir said it would be increasing the size of the EU data-roaming allowance for Eir and Meteor customers, from 1GB to up to 5GB, depending on the bill pay tariff that the customer is on.

The EU said “member states’ national telecoms regulators must ensure that mobile phone operators comply with the new rules on data roaming”.

ComReg told the Irish Examiner that it “will examine the offerings of the mobile network operators to ensure they comply with the new rules on data-roaming and lower prices of voice calls”, when the new rules come into effect in June.