European Commission criticised for roaming charges ‘U-turn’

The European Commission has been accused of bowing to the will of telecoms companies and rowing back on plans to scrap roaming charges across the EU after it unveiled plans to introduce an annual limit of 90 days free roaming per customer.

Under proposals which have been years in the planning, roaming charges across the EU are to be completely scrapped, but earlier this week, the commission published a draft “fair usage policy” which it said was designed to stop consumers abusing the system.

Under the proposals, phone users will be allowed no more than 90 days of free roaming per year and will also be forced to connect to their roaming provider’s home network at least once every 30 days.

The commission said the caps were designed to stop permanent roaming which would allow a person buy a SIM card in a country where prices are cheaper and use it full-time in their home market.

“Such situations could have a negative impact on domestic prices, and ultimately on all consumers,” said the commission.

The document also says the ruling will not apply to phone users who connect to a foreign network and their home network on the same day, a move which will protect phone users travelling from the Republic to Northern Ireland and vice versa from being unfairly penalised.

The commission also wants to apply limits to customers on unlimited tariff plans. If the proposals are given the green light customers will be allowed to use the average volume of service - whether it is minutes, texts, or data - consumed by customers on that tariff without incurring roaming charges.

The fair usage policy will also target prepaid customers who will have to have used at least a typical month’s worth of credit on their home network before they can qualify for free roaming.

The commission said this was to stop customers using a SIM card exclusively for free roaming.

The Commission has opened consultations with the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and member ahead of finalisation of the plans. .

Fianna Fáil communications spokesman Timmy Dooley criticised what he described as an "apparent U-turn" on the proposal end roaming charges.

He said the plan to insert a 'fair usage' clause "flies in the face of the original decision of the parliament. The commission has simply ignored the express will of the European Parliament which called for the end of all roaming charges, and are attempting to insert get-out clauses for telecoms communications."

He said that the end of roaming charges “should mean simply that - an end to all roaming charges. The attempt by the Commission to protect telecom companies by forcing customers to log into their home network every 30 days is contrary to both the spirit and objective of the EU parliament decision.”