Roaming charges to be scrapped but 'fair use' cap on data services will apply under EU reforms

The Council of Ministers and European Parliament reached a "provisional deal" on reforms to roaming charges and on new 'net neutrality' rules on Monday. Official approval of the reforms by the two bodies is necessary before the new rules can be set.

In a statement, the Council said that the law makers agreed that roaming charges – fees applied to the use of mobile data services by consumers when abroad – should be abolished as of 15 June 2017. However, under the agreed reforms, mobile network operators will be able to charge consumers that exceed a "fair use" cap on the use of mobile data services abroad.

"The rules prevent abusive uses: for example, if the customer buys a SIM card in another EU country where domestic prices are lower to use it at home; or if the customer permanently stays abroad with a domestic subscription of his home country," a statement by the European Commission said. "This is not the usual use of roaming as the vast majority of Europeans experience it. These unusual behaviours are also called 'permanent roaming' and could have a negative impact on domestic prices, and ultimately on consumers."

"This is why there is a fair use safeguard. Once that limit is reached while being abroad, a small basic fee can be charged. This will be much lower than current caps (maximum prices that operators can charge consumers for roaming in the EU) and is likely to decrease even further. The Commission has been mandated to define the details of the fair use limit," it said.

Existing caps on roaming charges will be lowered from 30 April 2016 under previously agreed reforms. Those caps will prevent mobile operators from charging consumers more than €0.05 per minute for calls, €0.02 for text messages and €0.05 per megabyte for data when they use their phones abroad.

New 'net neutrality' rules will also be set under the agreed reforms.

"In the open internet, all traffic will be treated equally, subject to strict and clearly identified public-interest exceptions, such as network security or combating child pornography, and subject to efficient day-to-day network management by internet service providers," the Commission said in its statement. "In parallel, internet access providers will still be able to offer specialised services of higher quality, such as internet TV and new innovative applications, so long as these services are not supplied at the expense of the quality of the open internet."

"Paid prioritisation in the open internet will be banned. Based on this new legislation, all content and application providers will have guaranteed access to end-users in the open internet. This access should not be dependent on the will or particular commercial interest of internet service providers. These providers will not be able to block or throttle traffic in their networks or give priority to some particular content or services in exchange of payment. At the same time, end-users and providers of internet access will continue being able to agree on different access speeds and data volumes as they do today," it said.

The net neutrality regime in the EU will take effect from 30 April 2016, the Commission said. New net neutrality rules were introduced in the US earlier this summer.