Mobile operators in Europe will be required to give customers a larger ‘roam like at home’ allowance under a proposal currently being discussed by the European Union.
According to a document seen by Reuters, consumers would be allocated 100 MB of data, 100 minutes of outgoing and incoming calls, and 50 text messages per year, which would be charged at domestic rates while travelling within the EU. An earlier proposal called for a basic allotment of 35 MB, 35 minutes, and 35 texts.
Once the bundle has been used up, operators would be permitted to apply surcharges provided they don’t violate EU caps on roaming fees.
The last European Parliament voted in favour of abolishing roaming charges altogether by the end of 2015.
However, Reuters reported in January on a leaked document from Latvia – which took on the EU presidency that same month – that called for a fresh review of the wholesale telecoms market, which would put off scrapping roaming fees until mid-2018.
The potential delay was given short shrift by Andrus Ansip, vice president f or the digital single market, who reiterated calls to consign the fees to history, and quickly.
"We need to abolish roaming charges as soon as possible," he said in a March speech to the European Voice Event in Brussels.
He branded the earlier proposal for the 35 MB/minute/text allocation a joke.
"We should remember our ultimate aim: the full and swift abolition of roaming surcharges – and not only for their reduction," he said.
