Although at a slow pace, it seems that little by little the laws are adapting to the reality of the 21st century. The Board of the recently approved the new rules that will put an end to surcharges for using the mobile in other EU countries (what is known as roaming or roaming charges) by June 2017, a fact that will also facilitate the use of the Internet.
The end of roaming charges is getting closer every day. Mobility within the countries of the European Union, the free movement of people and capital, will be more real when we can cross those borders without fear of the telephone bill, especially with regard to data usage.
We have all experienced the nagging feeling of going on a trip and having to disable the data almost by obligation, because those offered by our telephone operator for internet use abroad are disproportionate. And it comforts us to think that we can always resort to the blessed WIFI, whenever it exists, of course. But these circumstances, to which we users can adapt, do not seem very consistent with the idea of free movement of people and single market of the European Union today.
The fact is that technology is always ahead, but it is the responsibility of the rulers to facilitate that the law allows a democratic use of these advances, which result in benefits for the citizens and for economic development. And without a doubt, the end of roaming charges can help in this regard.
According to the new legislation, the surcharges for calling, sending messages or surfing the Internet through the mobile in a Member State other than the one of origin of the operator They should disappear on June 15, 2017.It will be then when the end of roaming and surcharges for internet use abroad become a reality.
Reductions in roaming rates in 2016
What intermediate step until the abolition of these tariffs, the EU has decided to lower them on April 30, 2016, when the wholesale price per minute must not exceed five cents, two cents per SMS and five cents per mega (VAT apart). These prices are 75% cheaper than the current ones.
Regarding the guarantees for the neutrality of the Internet, the operators will have to treat all traffic under equal conditions, although they may apply “reasonable management measures”, according to the new regulations. These points will have to be specified in the normative development. Blocking or throttling content will only be allowed in limited circumstances, for example to avoid cyber attacks or traffic congestion.
Agreements will be accepted for services that require a specific level of quality, although in that case Operators must guarantee the general quality of Internet access services.
In November, more details of the end of roaming rates
On October 1, the Council of the European Union formally approved the new rules that may end these surcharges. The decision was adopted as a point without debate in the Council of Ministers of Competitiveness. Now the European Parliament will have to validate the text in its plenary session at the end of this month of October and, to november It will probably be published in the Official Journal of the EU, thus entering into force three days later.
On June 30, the negotiators of the Council and the European Parliament reached the final agreement endorsed on the 1st, after months of negotiations. Now it remains to wait for the agreement to come into force and citizens can benefit from the end of roaming charges.
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