HELSINKI: The roaming fees charged for using a mobile phone while abroad will be abolished within the European Union by June 2017.
The abolition has been under preparation for some time and was finally confirmed on Tuesday as the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe agreed provisionally to prohibit carriers from charging roaming fees for mobile phone use within the union. Mobile phone users will therefore be charged the same call and data usage fees while travelling within the union they would be in their home country.
The provisional agreement was found after a 12-hour long debate in Brussels on Tuesday, according to the European Commission and the Latvian Presidency of the Council. The abolition of roaming fees is part of a thorough review of telecommunications laws by the European Union. The European Union has already introduced a cap for mobile phone and broadband charges.
The new roaming regulations will not enter into force until they have received the formal approval of all member states and the European Parliament. The consensus established on Tuesday, however, will all but guarantee that the decision is implemented according to plan.
