The end of exorbitant mobile roaming charges in the EU moved a step closer yesterday as MEPs voted for a total ban by Christmas 2015.
This still needs the approval of member state governments, who are expected to discuss it in October.
The EU has long been fighting roaming charges, having forced reductions in the cost of roaming calls, messages and internet browsing year after year.
The European Commission had now proposed the most drastic of moves – the complete elimination of such charges from the end of next year.
MEPs have overwhelmingly backed the proposal, which would be very popular among voters in May’s European Parliaments elections.
This is what the EU is all about – getting rid of barriers and making life easier and less expensiv
They voted 534 to 25 to ban all roaming charges anywhere in the EU as of December 15, 2015.
The Commission says there is no technical justification for telecoms companies to charge extra costs for customers to use their mobile phones abroad.
Commission vice president Neelie Kroes described the vote as tangible proof that the EU is delivering for citizens.
“This is what the EU is all about – getting rid of barriers to make life easier and less expensive,” she said.
However, the industry is putting a lot of pressure on individual governments to let them continue to make some roaming revenue, arguing that this is in the interests of the continuous development of the sector and the move would continue to drive down their income.
Lobbying group ETNO, whose members include some of the largest companies, such as Deutsche Telecom, Telefonica and Telecom Italia, called the vote a step in the wrong direction.
The ban would be part of a set of new measures applying to the telecoms sector. Internet service providers would, for example, also be barred from blocking or slowing down selected services for economic or other reasons.
An example of such ‘abuse’ is the blocking of Skype – a free calling service – by many telecom operators – so that clients would be forced to use more expensive services.
According to the new rules, internet access providers would still be able to offer specialised services of higher quality but not to the detriment of the availability or quality of other internet access services.