In the European Union, mobile phone usage while abroad has been subject to a fee known as "roaming charges," a cost that has faced intense criticism from both users and EU politicians. On March 18, the EU took a solid step forward in the movement to abolish these fees, as the European Parliament passed its first vote on the relevant new legislation.
The new law formulated and voted on by the EU and the European Parliament actually pertains to every aspect of the EU telecommunications market, such as net neutrality and the allocation of radio frequency resources. For consumers, one significant provision is that this law will completely abolish "roaming charges," meaning that EU users will pay the same rates for mobile usage abroad as they do domestically.
On that day, the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy held its first vote on the new legislation, which passed with 30 votes in favor, 12 against, and 14 abstentions. As evidenced by the voting margin, the new bill remains somewhat controversial.
According to the EU's legislative process, the European Parliament will hold a plenary vote on the aforementioned bill on April 3. The European Commission, which is responsible for drafting the law, previously stated that the legislative process will be completed by the end of 2014. If the process of incorporating it into the national laws of EU member states proceeds smoothly, mobile roaming charges will become a "relic of the past" for European consumers by December 2015.
Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda (who is responsible for drafting the bill), stated that the new law will promote the development of a dynamic, healthy, and competitive telecommunications market in the EU that can adapt to future needs.
Kroes noted that EU consumers will also gain a seamless communication experience. This is the fair service they have long demanded, as they have been calling for the abolition of roaming charges and the prevention of practices that block specific service provider content (i.e., violations of net neutrality).
According to reports from the British newspaper The Guardian, the roaming charges being abolished by the EU include not only voice calls but also SMS and mobile data services. Previously, Kroes harshly criticized unfair international roaming charges, labeling them a "cash cow" for the EU telecommunications industry.
As reported by The Guardian, under previously passed legislation, wholesale roaming rates will be adjusted starting in July 2014, with caps set at 5 euro cents per megabyte of data and per voice call, and 2 euro cents per sent SMS. Regarding the retail roaming charges borne by consumers, the cost per gigabyte of data will decrease from 450 euros to 200 euros.
It is said that the abolition of roaming charges will have the greatest impact on users in the UK and Northern Europe, as these users often travel to warmer Southern Europe during the colder seasons, resulting in higher roaming demand.