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Wednesday, 08.05.2024, 05:15
European Commission scraps time limit on free mobile roaming plan
"We will not put any kind of limits on duration or, how
many days (travelers) can enjoy no roaming surcharges, but we decided to put
some clear safeguards on residency," EU Commissioner for the Digital
Single Market Andrus Ansip said at a news briefing.
The commission announced the original "free
roaming" plans with huge fanfare in early 2015, but when it unveiled the
details earlier this month consumer groups were outraged by a limit of 90 days
of free roaming per year.
They had assumed the Commission's pledge to end mobile
roaming charges - additional costs when people use their phone outside their
home country - meant exactly that, without conditions or caveats.
As a result, they responded angrily to the 90-day "fair
use" limit, charging that Brussels had caved in to the powerful telecoms
companies for whom roaming charges have long been a lucrative source of extra
income.
Instead of time limits, the new Commission proposal will
allow operators to crackdown on people whose phone usage abroad
"significantly" outweighs their domestic calls.
It will also allow mobile operators to cancel SIM cards
found to be used almost exclusively abroad.
The Commission's proposal now goes to the EU's 28 national
regulators for negotiation, in order for the plan to be implemented by June 15
next year as originally promised.