European Parliament Agrees on Roaming Rules and June 15, 2017 Implementation

Though the rules still must be approved by nations within the European Union, the European Parliament has voted in favor of an end to mobile roaming fees across the EU in 2017.

Prior to the agreement, European Union and European Parliament members had disagreed in some respects about the specific rules and the implementation dates.

Under the new agreement, roaming surcharges in the European Union will be abolished as of June 15, 2017.  The Parliament had wanted a 2016 effective date, while RU officials were willing to wait until 2018.

However, roaming providers will be able to apply “fair use” policies that limit the total amount of foaming usage.

Roaming fees will start to drop on April 30, 2016, when the current retail caps will be replaced by a maximum surcharge of €0.05 per minute for calls, €0.02 for SMSs and €0.05 per megabyte for data.

Under the EU-wide open internet rules, operators will have to treat all traffic equally when providing internet access services as well, though mobile operators may use reasonable traffic management measures.

Blocking or throttling of apps will be allowed only in a limited number of circumstances, for instance to counter a cyber-attacks and prevent traffic congestion.

Agreements on services requiring a specific level of quality will be allowed, but operators will have to ensure the general quality of internet access services.