The European Commission (EC) has released the results of the "e-Communications Household Survey and Telecom Single Market Survey - Roaming Results", based on surveys conducted of 28 thousand European Union citizens.
Published on 17 February 2014, the survey reveals that 94 percent of Europeans limit their use of services such as Facebook when travelling abroad because of roaming tariffs. The survey's analysis shows that:
- 47 percent of those surveyed never use the mobile Internet when visiting another EU country;
- only one in ten uses email in the same way as in their home country;
- more than a quarter turn off their mobile phones when travelling in the European Union;
- many users resort to the short message service (SMS) instead of voice calls.
The EC estimates that the end of roaming tariffs represents an increase of about 300 million new customers for telecom companies.
Further information:
- e-Communications Household Survey and Telecom Single Market Survey Roaming Results (Special Eurobarometer 414) http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=4484
