Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Goodbye roaming: final hurdle cleared for end of roaming charges

Mobile roaming fees should be history by the summer, with the European Union having agreed to a steep drop in maximum wholesale roaming prices. The EU clinched a preliminary deal early today to cap wholesale charges telecom operators pay each other when their customers use their mobile phones abroad, paving the way for the abolition of roaming fees in June. Caps on wholesale roaming charges were the last piece of the puzzle needed for the abolition of retail roaming charges as of June 15, crowning a decade of efforts by Brussels to allow citizens to use their phones abroad without paying extra. Wholesale charges for data - which were the most controversial given the exponential use of mobile internet - will be capped at €7.7 euros per gigabyte from June, going down to €2.5 euros per gigabyte in 2022. Caps for making calls will decrease from 5c per minute to 3.2c per minute, while those for sending text messages will be halved to 1c from 2c as of June. "Goodbye roaming," tweeted Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, the EU lawmaker who steered the law on behalf of the European parliament. No more #roaming charges after June 15th! Hello future, hello #GigabitSociety!https://t.co/Anp6b0X3U4...

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