The Council of Ministers for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs gave approval on 8 June, to the amendment of Regulation (EC) no. 717/2007 on roaming on public mobile telephone networks. These ammendments establish new prices for voice communications (at both retail and wholesale level), prices for the sending of text messages - SMS (retail and wholesale) and data communication (in this case only at wholesale level).
The maximum value of the Eurotariff (Voice) that EU/EEA customers (European Union, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) can be charged (excluding VAT) for intra EU/EEA mobile voice communications in roaming in the region will be reduced from the current 0.46 euros (calls made) and 0.22 euros (calls received) per minute down to 0.43 euros and 0.19 euros, respectively, from 1 July 2009. As of 1 July 2010, the maximum values of the Eurotariff will be further reduced to 0.39 euros per minute (calls made) and 0.15 euros per minute (calls received). Whereas, from 1 July 2011, these values will drop to 0.35 euros and 0.11 euros, respectively.
Operators must also provide their roaming customers in the region with a Eurotariff for sending intra EU/EEA SMSs (Euro-SMS tariff) with a value not exceeding 0.11 euros (excluding VAT). Roaming tariffs for data communications in the region are also set to decline with the fixing of an average wholesale tariff for this type of communication which cannot exceed 1.00 euro per downloaded megabyte. This values is reduced further to 0.80 euros 0.50 euros on 1 July 2010 and 1 July 2012. As a result, additional reductions are expected in customer bills.
The obligation to provide a Euro-SMS tariff and a Eurotariff applicable to voice communications (Voice Eurotariff) does not, however, prevent operators from offering additional, alternative tariffs for the same types of communications in intra EU/EEA roaming .
As already seen with voice communications, rules are being established which will mean that customers using intra-UE/EEA roaming will be better informed about roaming tariffs for SMS and data communications. From 1 March 2010, mobile operators will also have to make certain specific solutions available, with respect to intra EU/EEA data communications services in roaming, which reduce the risk of customers being confronted with unexpectedly high bills ("bill shocks"), through an automatic mechanism that blocks the data service once a determined bill value has been reached. Except for customers who opt out of this automatic block, from 1 July 2010 such a mechanism will be activated as soon as the bill reaches 50.00 euros (unless the client has chosen a different limit provided by the operator).
Further information:
- The Council approves new rules on roaming charges http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/misc/108365.pdf
- EU Roaming Regulation clears final hurdle: Council paves way for cheaper roaming prices as of 1 July http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/880&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Related information on ANACOM's website:
- Roaming https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=188342
