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Report claims wholesale roaming rates could be used to set limits on the amount of data consumers can use while abroad.
The European Commission is considering yet more changes to its roaming fair usage policy (FUP) that could see wholesale roaming rates used as the basis for placing limits on the volume of data that consumers can use while abroad.
According to a Financial Times report on Sunday, operators and governments are still yet to agree on new wholesale mobile data roaming charges.
On one side there are operators that have higher domestic prices and/or are based in popular tourist destinations. They would like to charge foreign operators €10 per GB, more than the Commission’s proposal in June of €8.50.
On the other side of the dispute are operators that have lower domestic prices and/or do not have their networks swamped by tourists every year. They are concerned about incurring high wholesale fees every time a customer goes abroad, and so are lobbying for a lower wholesale rate of €4 per GB.
Under the revised FUP reportedly being proposed, at that higher rate, a customer on a €20 per month plan would have a data roaming allowance of 2 GB, for example. At that lower wholesale rate, their allowance would increase to 5 GB.
EU members are due to meet this week to agree the new wholesale rates and to discuss the latest FUP proposals.
The Commission has been talking for years about bringing an end to mobile roaming charges in the EU, but the practicalities of actually doing it are proving to be a challenge.
Brussels has already had two attempts at an FUP.
The first attempt, unveiled on 5 September, attracted criticism for proposing to restrict free roaming to 90 days per year, and to insist that users connect to their domestic mobile network at least once every 30 days. The document was withdrawn just days after its publication.
The second attempt, published on 21 September, proposed no limits in terms of time or volume of usage when it comes to free roaming in the EU, suggesting instead that operators draw up criteria that they can use to judge whether the free roaming rules are being abused.
