Mobile phone users in the Europe will no longer have to pay extra Roaming fees for incoming calls when travelling in other EU countries starting July 2014. Two years later, all roaming charges will be repealed under a new legislation proposed by the European Commission.
The new plan is opposed by the big operators such as Vodafone, Orange Telefonica… It is part of an overall package to overhaul the fragmented telecom market and harmonize regulations governing the industry and services in the 28-nation bloc.
The EC “roaming-free” plan, which aims to build “a single European telecom market”, encourages investment in new high-speed networks and ensures that mobile phone users pay the same costs regardless of where they are in Europe.
This ambitious plan, which will reduce considerably consumer charges, is said to be the major European telecom reform in more than two decades. It sets simple, clear and precise rules for telecom operations and protects the rights of both the users and service providers.
The telecoms sector represents 9 pc of Europe’s digital economy because all sectors increasingly depend on connectivity and global competitive e-services.
Millions of tourists and business travellers in Europe welcome the idea of setting up a borderless single telecom market wherein all operators enforce the same rules with match pricing policy.
Under the new legislation, European telecoms operators will need only one single authorization to operate in all 28 member states of the Union (instead of 28 authorizations, everyone different from the other). It will also force operators sell flat rates and phone plans that apply everywhere in the European Union with no hidden charges.
The EC plan sets also new rules for text messaging and the internet giving users full access to the Net without restrictions regardless of the cost or speed of their subscription. Customers will have the right to check if they are receiving the right internet speeds they pay for and the right to switch to another provider if unsatisfied with the service.
As to the internet providers, they will still be able to sell to “specialized services” such as IPTV, video on demand… without affecting or disrupting the internet speeds of other web users.
