The European Commission (EC) has unveiled a new slate of mobile roaming rules that would enable European consumers to obtain substantially lower digital broadband and mobile voice rates when traveling outside of their native countries to destinations within the European Union (EU). If approved by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers representing all EU Member States, the proposed regulations would go into effect in July 2014.
The EC previously had attempted to reduce wireless roaming rates through the introduction wholesale and retail price caps. However, many European consumers are still paying over 2 Euros per megabyte of data when roaming, whereas the operators themselves typically charge each other substantially less than 50 cents per megabyte.
The goal of the new mobile roaming rules unveiled Wednesday is to directly foster competition, noted European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes. "It would stop operators taking advantage of market dysfunction to make a quick profit at the expense of consumers, and it would make it cheaper and easier" for consumers to use mobile devices when traveling, Kroes said.
Consumers Getting A Raw Deal
Many Europeans currently switch off their mobile devices when visiting another country within the European Union because the prices for roaming calls, texts and data access are so high, Kroes noted. "Competition is still very weak, customers still get a raw deal when they cross borders [and] operators still enjoy outrageous margins -- particularly on data downloads," Kroes said.
Moreover, price regulation alone has not proven to be a practical solution to the problem. "Given the current lack of competition, operators have no incentive to offer prices significantly below the regulated caps," Kroes explained.
Under the new rules proposed Wednesday, wireless network operators would have to provide network access to roaming service providers from other European Union member states at regulated wholesale prices. "This would make it easier for alternative operators to offer competitive roaming services," Kroes said.
A Safety Net
Under the new rules, European consumers would have the right to choose an alternative provider offering lower-priced EU-wide roaming services, while retaining the services of their current mobile network provider when at home. What's more, device users would be able to maintain the same phone numbers when traveling that they typically use locally -- and with no SIM card swapping required.
Mobile devices would be furnished with the requisite technologies for automatically switching to the user's preferred roaming provider whenever visiting another EU member state. Kroes hopes to see the new EC proposal become adopted by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers before the expiration next year of the mobile roaming rules currently in effect.
"Just as structural measures to increase competition in air travel have brought down air fares and increased choice very substantially, I am confident that structural measures to increase competition on the roaming market will ensure customers get a significantly better deal in terms of prices and choice of services," Kroes said.
Until the new measures come fully into effect, the EC intends to maintain a safety net until 2016 that places caps on the roaming fees that mobile providers can charges -- including a new cap for data roaming of 50 euro cents per megabyte of data by 2014. Moreover, the new proposal includes caps of 24 cents per minute for any call made, 10 cents per minute for any calls received and a cap of 10 cents per text message.
"By [2016] at the latest, the structural measures to enhance competition will have delivered innovative pan-European roaming offers and cheaper prices significantly below the caps," Kroes claimed.
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