The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has withdrawn the proposal that the Commission submitted earlier this week regarding roaming and requested that a new version be created, the Commission announced today. Commission spokesperson Alexander Winterstein stated that the Commission’s proposal on “fair access” regarding roaming was published before Juncker had seen it. Following negative public reactions, Juncker stated that the proposal was not good enough and ordered a new one to be drafted. When asked what aspect of the proposal Juncker was dissatisfied with, Winterstein did not respond.
It is worth noting that the European Commission proposed on Monday that mobile phones can be used abroad in Europe without paying roaming fees for a maximum of 90 days per year, with the stipulation that a single stay outside the home network cannot exceed one month. According to the Commission, this should be sufficient for going on vacation and occasional travel within the EU, without travelers feeling the impact on their mobile bills. After the expiration of the stipulated periods, operators will be able to charge roaming fees of 4 cents per minute for calls, 1 cent for SMS, and 0.85 cents per MB.
In June 2017, roaming for calls, SMS, and data traffic will be completely abolished. However, to protect telecommunications operators from potential abuse, the European Commission proposed guidelines to avoid this.
