Politicians have labelled the move “the end of roaming charges”, although operators will still be able to charge customers they think are abusing the system by permanently roaming, using a SIM card from a low-priced country while living in a higher-cost country.
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European politicians voted on Tuesday to kill global roaming charges across the EU by June 15, 2017.
The proposals aim to prevent consumers receiving huge bills after downloading films or other data while travelling in Europe.
The new legislation also requires network operators to treat all Internet traffic equally, without selectively blocking access to any content or slowing delivery.
One is fast lanes, allowing ISPs to offer better access to companies that can pay through the “specialised services” exception.
The original bill ostensibly upholds the principle of net neutrality but opponents say it contains a number of loopholes which could lead to a tiered Internet, in which Internet service providers could deliver data from different sources at different speeds.
This is especially disappointing for member states that have strong net neutrality rules in place, such as the Netherlands and Slovenia, as they may have to implement watered down versions now.
He said: “This is not only about money, this is about bringing down barriers in the Digital Single Market”.
“Today’s achievement is a first step towards a Telecoms Single Market”. With this new rule, holidaymakers will no longer have to experience the nightmare of seeing their phone bills racked up while they travel.
The vote comes on the back on an agreement in June, which put forward the terms for striking down the prohibitive, draconian and universally loathed roaming fees.
From 30 April 2016, roaming surcharges must not exceed 5c per minute for voice calls, 2c for text messages or 5c per megabyte of mobile internet use. “It also ensures that we will not have a two-speed internet”, Pilar del Castillo said.
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Scrapping European Union mobile roaming charges could save holidaymakers and those who live in border areas thousands of pounds, a Northern Ireland MEP said.
