Last obstacle to 'roam like at home' removed

Negotiation breakthrough: Parliament and Member States agree on price caps for what telecom operators can charge each other for access to their networks

“Last night, we removed the last obstacle to the ‘roam like at home’ principle. Lower wholesale prices make room for lower prices for consumers. We stand firm on the promise made to consumers that roaming charges will disappear this summer", said Paul Rübig MEP this morning, after last night’s negotiation breakthrough on the new rules on what telecom operators can charge each other.

From June 15 of this year onwards, operators in the EU may not charge more than €7.7 per gigabyte of data roaming to other operators. This will decrease to €6 as of 1 January 2018. The fees will slide to €4.5 per gigabyte in 2019, €3.5 in 2020, €3 in 2021 and then to €2.5 in 2022. Rübig is the EPP Group’s negotiator on the draft law.

Lower wholesale prices make room for lower prices for consumers Paul Rübig MEP

Rübig still criticises the attitude of many Member States in the negotiations. “We want more competition between service providers. This only leads to better service and lower prices for consumers. We want a truly functioning Digital Single Market. The Telecoms Ministers of some EU Member States still seem to care more about their former state-owned telecom companies than about the benefits for citizens", said Rübig.