PRESS RELEASE - 09.12.2021

The EU institutions have reached an agreement to extend roaming rules which will bring further benefits to consumers. The existing rules are one of the EU’s most recognised successes by consumers and would have expired at the end of June 2022.

Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director General of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), said:
“It is very good news that the agreement reached not only confirms that the ban on roaming charges will continue, it will also improve the existing roaming experience for consumers. For example, consumers should now receive the same quality of service when roaming as when they are in their home country, as long as it is technically feasible.

“It is also positive that consumers will be better protected against bill shocks that are caused by connecting inadvertently to a non-EU mobile or a satellite network.”

BEUC however regrets that one important element of the legislative review – a reduction of the cost of making calls to another EU country, so called intra-EU calls – was essentially left out. Consumers still face disproportionate surcharges when they call or text somebody living in another EU country. The price consumers pay should be brought in line with the cost of domestic calls and reflect the actual costs for telephone operators of connecting such calls.

Ursula Pachl added:
“It is a shame that the final agreement does not include cheaper intra-EU calls or messaging. Despite the existing caps, consumers still pay exorbitant prices for calling another EU country compared to making a domestic call, which is unjustified given that we live in an EU Single Market and have tackled roaming prices. We call on the Commission to propose legislation that further brings down the cost of intra-EU communications as soon as feasible.”

BEUC also regrets that today’s agreement did not go further in phasing out ‘fair-use’ policies, which allow operators to start applying roaming charges if they consider a consumer is making excessive use of their phone while roaming.

ENDS
[1] The Register, ‘O2 admits to throttling network bandwidth for EU data roamers’, (July 2017).