No more roaming charges in Europe

December 14 09:08 2015 by The Editor Print This Article

No more roaming charges in Europe 

 

The European Commission has  pronounced the introduction  of  legalisation which will serve to end roaming charges in Europe by 2017. Until then there will be an interim period where roaming charges will be reduced by 75%.

 

At present, most mobile operators charge higher rates when making calls, sending text messages and using mobile internet from one country to another. However this is set to change, and in this respect,users will be able to use their mobile connection between counties within the EU with the same payment terms of  their own country.

 

This legislation serves to further consolidate the Telecoms Single Market Initiative and the development of the Digital Single Market – which will serve to make the region more competitive in terms of  communications systems, as well as reduce market fragmentation.

 

In line with this, the Commission has also enshrined the principle on net neutrality which in essence will not allow service providers to favour specific internet traffic . Furthermore, the new agreement provides for  general access to the internet to all networks without differentiation. Nonetheless, the rules come with some exceptions that may let networks to control internet traffic and blocking access upon certain instances such as suspicions of cyber terrorism and child pornography.