It is possible that the Council of the European Union could introduce derogations for the ceilings set for wholesale roaming prices, in an effort to keep countries in southern Europe on board. The Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) is expected to discuss this option during its meeting on Wednesday 26 October.
Regulation 2015/2120 provides for an end to surcharges invoiced by telephone operators when customers travel to another member state, as from June 2017 (retail roaming). It also tasks the Commission with establishing tariff caps for the prices operators apply between themselves for the use of their network when users travel within the EU (wholesale roaming). In June 2016, the Commission thus proposed to limit these costs between operators to €0.04 per minute for calls, €0.01 for each SMS and €0.85 per megabyte (mb) of data (in other words, respective reductions of 20%, 50% and 83% compared with current ceilings) (see EUROPE 11573).
On Wednesday, Coreper (the permanent representatives of the member states) is expected to discuss a proposal from the Slovak Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers to amend these ceilings and introduce a sustainability caluse. Bratislava is effectively proposing to introduce a descending cap from €10.50 per gigabyte in 2017, which would be reduced every year to €6.50 by 2021. The Presidency is also proposing a sustainability clause, which would enable operators who do not make a profit to impose surcharges: wholesale prices and a surcharge would not be able to exceed €8.50/gigabyte.
During their meeting, the experts are also expected to discuss a proposal from Spain to authorise operators from countries subject to strong pressures due to tourism to exceed these ceilings when their expenses overshoot their profits. This derogation could be granted for a maximum period of 12 months and only at a level of what is necessary to cover the costs. The proposal may, however, be rejected by northern European countries, which are calling for even lower caps than those proposed by the European Commission. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)