Users will be able to communicate freely while traveling

Jun 30, 2015 13:58 GMT  ·  By

We have some excellent news for European mobile phone users today. Citizens of the European Union travelling to any of the 28 member countries will be able to place phone calls via their mobile devices without having to pay roaming charges starting June 27, 2017.

After a grueling 12-hour negotiation session, the European Commission announced this morning that, along with the European Parliament and Council, they have reached an agreement on the key elements for a single market in telecoms, which will bring about the disappearance of roaming charges.

The commission had promised to end roaming charges added to phone bills for calling, texting and accessing online content while travelling abroad by the end of 2015, but reaching an agreement took longer than expected.

The thing is, national governments weren’t too keen on the idea of driving out revenue coming from telecommunication companies and initially proposed a “basic romancing allowance.” Eventually, they agreed with the European Parliament’s views.

As of April 2016, roaming charges will get cheaper

While we wait for the green light on free communications, the roaming cap charges are going to see a decrease to €0.05 per minute a call, €0.02 per sent text, and €0.05 per megabyte of data (all includes VAT).

Discussions about ending roaming chargers were initiated back in 2007, and since then charges have been dropping considerably, up to 80% to this day.

The commission’s official statement will include a statement on the deal for “fair use safeguard” in order to “prevent abusive uses.”

What can qualify for “abusive use”? For example, if a customer buys a SIM card in another EU country where domestic prices are lower with the intention of using it in their home country. Or if the user remains abroad while taking advantage of a subscription they paid for in their home country.

Mobile roaming charges have been encouraging users abroad to switch off their mobile phones while travelling, but with the financial aspect being taken out of the equation, we’re bound to see travelers use their devices more regularly while away from their home country.

This in turn translates into more opportunities for online businesses and startups to provide services to consumers while they travel the old continent.