Today the ITRE-committee of the European Parliament voted to lower the caps for wholesale roaming data charges. From June 2017 onwards roaming fees for consumers will be abolished, but this requires also an agreement about the costs that mobile telecoms operators can charge each other to keep their customers connected while abroad.
Member of the European Parliament Marietje Schaake (ALDE/D66): "The Parliament sticks to its guns in order to end unnecessarily high roaming costs. It aims to cap wholesale charges at 4 euros per gigabyte in June 2017, which will subsequently decrease to 1 euro per gigabyte from June 2021 onwards. With an unlimited data package in the Netherlands which costs 80 euros, a consumer will be able to use 80 gigabytes for free abroad. The Parliament is far more ambitious compared to the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union, which agreed to start at 10 euro per gigabyte in 2017 and decrease to 5 euro per gigabyte from 2021 onwards."
On Friday EU Ministers are expected to agree on a general approach on a proposal on regulating wholesale roaming markets in the EU. Afterwards the Council and the Parliament will negotiate a final agreement, which needs to be finalised before the 15th of February 2017.
