Brussels, 28/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 27-28 March the European Parliament and the Danish Presidency, meeting in trialogue with representatives of the European Commission, reached an agreement on the new “roaming 3” regulation. The upper price limits are lower than those initially proposed by the Commission, and the two structural measures proposed by the Parliament have been approved. The final text has still to be formally adopted by the Parliament at its plenary session on 10 May, to enter into force on 1 July of this year. “I am satisfied by this result (…). The Parliament has succeeded in its calls for cheaper roaming data for consumers”, commented Angelika Niebler (EPP, Germany), rapporteur on the dossier for the Parliament. This is good news for the Commission. “The new agreement on roaming gives us a long-term structural solution, with lower rates, more choice and a new, intelligent approach to downloading data and surfing the internet”, said Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who is responsible for the Digital Agenda.
The talks started on the evening of 27 and continued into the night, with an agreement finally announced on Wednesday 28 after numerous discussions, as the Parliament and Council differed over the upper price limits to be laid down for roaming calls and data. The agreement is a clear victory for the Parliament, which wanted lower upper limits than those proposed by the Commission. It was finally the approval given to the Parliament's proposal by the national regulatory authorities, particularly BEREC, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, which won over the final misgivings of certain member states. The text also enshrines the two structural measures proposed by the Parliament to stimulate competition. This will allow consumers to choose an operator other than the national operator for roaming services, whilst keeping the same telephone number, as of 1 July 2014. The agreement also aims to facilitate access to the wholesale market for alternative operators. As regards upper price limits, the agreement lays down the following rates: (1) calls made (retail price): 29 euro cents (2012), 24 euro cents (2013) and 19 euro cents (2014). The Commission proposed 32, 28 and 24 euro cents respectively; (2) calls received (retail price: 8 euro cents (2012), 7 euro cents (2013), then 5 euro cents (2014). The Commission proposed 11, then 10 and again 10 euro cents; (3) text messages received (retail price): 9 euro cents (2012), 8 euro cents (2013) and 6 euro cents (2014). The Commission had set an unchanged upper limit of 10 euro cents from 2012 to 2014; (4) downloading data (retail price): 70 euro cents per megabyte (2012), 45 euro cents (2013) and 20 euro cents (2014). At this level, the Commission had laid down degressive rates of 90, 70 and finally 50 euro cents respectively. (IL/transl.fl)