PURPOSE: introduce structural measures to
boost competition by allowing customers from 1 July 2014, if they so wish, to
sign up for a cheaper mobile roaming contract, separate from their contract
for national mobile services, whilst using the same phone number.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council.
BACKGROUND: Regulation (EC) No 717/2007
on roaming on public mobile telephone networks within the Community has been
substantially amended. Since further amendments are to be made, it should be
recast in the interests of clarity.
A report adopted by the Commission on the
current roaming Regulation indicates that it has temporarily reduced prices
for roaming phone calls and text messages but has not remedied the lack of
competition in the roaming market, with prices remaining stubbornly close to
the retail caps.
The Commission's proposal would tackle
the current lack of competition and consumer choice by:
- making it easier for alternative
operators, like mobile virtual network operators, to enter roaming
markets by requiring network operators in other Member States to give
them access to their networks at regulated wholesale prices. This would
create more competition between operators on roaming markets, and so
increase the incentives for them to offer customers more attractive prices
and services;
- letting consumers choose an alternative
provider for roaming services, irrespective of their national provider.
Each time the customer crossed a border, they would automatically switch
to their chosen roaming provider, without any further action on their
part, while keeping the same number and subscriber identity module (SIM
card). This would enhance transparency and allow customers to shop
around for the best roaming offers and encourage operators to offer more
competitive roaming deals.
The proposal aims to meet the objective
set in the Digital Agenda for Europe that differences
between roaming and national telecoms tariffs should approach zero by 2015.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: no impact assessment
was carried out.
LEGAL BASIS: Article 114 of the Treaty on
the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
CONTENT: to cover the period until
structural measures become fully effective and competition drives retail
prices down, the proposal would progressively lower current retail price caps
on voice and texting (SMS) services and introduce a new retail price cap for mobile
data services. By 1 July 2014, roaming consumers would pay no more than:
- 24 cents per minute to make a call,
- a maximum 10 cents per minute to
receive a call,
- maximum 10 cents to send a text message
and maximum 50 cents per Megabyte (MB) to download data or browse the
Internet whilst travelling abroad (charged per Kilobyte used).
More specifically, until these structural
solutions fully delivered their results the proposal would:
- introduce a new retail price cap for
data roaming (which would remain in force
until mid-2016). This would ensure that users of smart phones, tablets and
other devices to access the Internet through mobile networks could go online
whilst abroad without running up huge bills. The Commission proposes that
consumers would pay no more than 90 cents per Megabyte (MB) downloaded
from 1 July 2012, falling very steeply to 50 cents per MB by July 2014
(such prices would be charged on a Kilobyte basis, taking into account effective
use). The current Regulation does not foresee retail price caps for data
roaming. Wholesale price caps for data roaming have been in place since July
2009, but savings have not been passed on to the consumer. The overall average
retail price of EUR 1.06 to download data in another Member State at the
end of 2010 masks a wide variation in retail prices. For example, it
costs consumers an average of EUR 2.23 per MB when downloading abroad on
another mobile group's network and in some cases charges reached much
higher levels (even as high as EUR 12 per MB). It is important to note
that the proposed retail caps serve as a mere safety-net for consumers,
while the Commission expects that the proposed competition-enhancing
structural measures would deliver innovative pan-European offers and
cheaper prices, significantly below the safeguard caps;
- keep retail price caps for roaming
voice and text message (SMS). These would
gradually decrease for all roaming services and would also remain in force
until mid-2016;
- keep data roaming "bill
shock" protection – consumers' and
business travellers' monthly bills for data access over mobile networks
when abroad would continue to be limited to EUR 50 unless the customer
explicitly agreed otherwise;
- retain caps on wholesale prices
between operators for all roaming services until 2022 (voice, SMS and data) in order to create a predictable investment
environment for alternative operators. Wholesale price caps could be
removed before 2022 if market data indicated that competition had developed
sufficiently;
- under the new Regulation, operators
would still be obliged to provide information on roaming prices to
consumers when crossing into another Member State, but customers would
be able to easily opt out of receiving this information.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: this proposal has
no implications for the EU budget.