Agreement to the Eu for the reduction of roaming, and what there is to know – The Republic

The ZEROING of roaming costs in europe is scheduled for 15 June, but what seems to be a result acquired could hide unpleasant surprises for the pockets of italians and not only. Yesterday, the European Parliament, the Council and the EU Commission have reached an agreement on wholesale charges that operators will apply to each other whenever their clients have passed through the boundaries. The problem is that the thresholds are high, if you look at the actual rates applied to the traffic data in a domestic context (about 1 or 2 euro per GB), and the risk is that someone ga mes, however, from the crafty to retrieve the item because it is no longer provided for the charge – at least up to the threshold of “fair use.”

the same insiders claim the rules that determine which are the maximum thresholds for roaming in addition to take share – especially relating to the prepaid and unlimited packages – are time-consuming and lead to questionable interpretations. It is essential that the authority for Communications (AGCOM), vigilant from the outset to avoid the unwarranted blows of hand or unexpected increases on the rates of traditional.

specifically, for voice traffic in roaming, the maximum threshold wholesale will be of 0,032 euro per minute and € 0.01 per SMS. The more articulated the issue of traffic data, always wholesale. The start is 7.7 euro per GB (since June 15, 2017) to get to 6 euro per GB (1 January 2018), 4.5 GB (1 January 2019), 3.5 euros per GB (1 January 2020), 3 euro per GB (1 January 2021) and finally 2.5 GB (1 January 2022). “This was the last piece of the puzzle. From June 15, europeans can travel in Europe without roaming fees,” said Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market. “We also make sure that the operators can continue to compete in providing the best deals in their national markets”.

In practice, it is applied a cut of 90% compared to current wholesale prices, in many cases up to 50 euro per GB. Good news on paper, but a decoy according to Innocenzo Genna, expert regulatory TLC and director of the european association of virtual mobile operators (MVNO) Europe – the lobby of the “little ones”. The reason for this? The large network operators will continue to match the costs with the cousins from across the border, while the little ones will be swept away and in some cases they may be forced to not provide roaming abroad. Vodafone, for example, between Germany and England will never go in loss because the networks are owned by it. And this can apply to all of the major operators to multi-national. “Now you can not apply the additional charge (subject to the exceptions which are unavoidable and complicated), the maximum wholesale becomes a cost not recoverable,” says the expert. “What matters is not alignment b etween rates and wholesale roaming prices retail in the home.” Also, if it is true that the large tend to reduce widely the rates only in the presence of competition, it is evident that a weakening of the little ones would play in favour of maintaining the status quo.

Sources close to the operators ‘ association, the EU telecommunications (ETNO) – the lobby of the “big” – argue that the bad omens of Genna are unjustified. At the bottom more that the size of the operator would seem to be characteristic of the type of market: if it is a country that usually welcomes tourists, or he sends them around Europe. In short, the “balance of trade”. Think of the case of the Netherlands that has the most customers outbound and inbound and wholesale prices to be quite high. “In truth, the big countries like Italy want to keep their domestic markets closed to prevent someone from abroad is to make the competition thanks to the roaming rates,” explains Genna. “Enough to make a comparison between the wholesale cost and the one applied to the consumer. If even TIM sells 1 GB for 1 euro, also an operator, a Lithuanian will not be able to do better. However, with a threshold wholesale by 7,7 euro will pr event the remote possibility”.

in Short, this could be a side effect. But nevertheless, you need to remember that this is the opinion of the operators. Still missing the final voting of the european Parliament and the EU Council. Something might be further limited. While the regulation “fair use” everything is already set and will not change. “If they had established wholesale prices lower there would have been no need of complications on the roofs fair use,” concluded Genna. “The competition would have created the market”.

Topics:

roaming

smartphone

telephony

rates

nra

Eu Parliament

Eu Commission

Starring:

Andrus Ansip

Innocenzo Genna