Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached an agreement late on the night of Wednesday 8 December going into Thursday 9 December regarding the extension of mobile roaming for ten years without any additional charges (see EUROPE 12819/7). The current regulation is set to expire on 30 June 2022.
“We have reached an agreement that is progressive and leads to even better quality and even better service for European citizens. We are creating a fairer roaming market by focusing on smaller operators by significantly reducing wholesale caps”, commented Angelika Winzig (EPP, Austria).
In specific terms, several points remained unresolved before the start of the inter-institutional negotiations (trilogue) on Wednesday evening.
For example, wholesale roaming charges – the price that operators charge each other when some of their customers use each other’s network – will be capped at €2 per gigabyte from 2022, and then reduced to €1 in 2027.
Furthermore, as regards intra-European calls, the European Parliament has got an agreement that the Commission will examine the situation and asses whether a further reduction is possible. Intra-European calls are currently charged at 19 cents per minute.
In addition to guaranteeing the same connection speed whether consumers are at home or abroad, the agreement also provides for free access to emergency services. No additional charges will be applied, either by telephone or message, if emergency services such as ‘112’ are contacted.
The agreement reached between the negotiators must now be formally approved by the EU Council on 15 December and by the European Parliament, first within the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and then in plenary. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)