Roaming in the EU has a fixed expiration date: June 15, 2017!
Yesterday evening, the telecom’s ministers of the 28 EU member countries and representatives of the European Parliament agreed on the complete abolition of roaming charges. The exorbitant fees for the use of mobile phones in other EU countries.
It is not a complete end of roaming. There is a rule to prevent abusive uses: for example if the customer buys a SIM card in another EU country where domestic prices are lower to use it at home; or if the customer permanently stays abroad with a domestic subscription of his home country.
More information: Press Release by the EU Commission and Fact Sheet
Strong tariff reduction mid-2016
As from April 2016, prices will be even cheaper: operators will be able to charge a small additional amount to domestic prices up to € 0.05 per minute of a call made, € 0.02 per SMS sent, and € 0.05 per MB of data (excl. VAT).
End of Roaming: Call to action for tourism!
Roaming charges currently teach users to switch off their mobile phone when abroad. If they are not afraid of their bills anymore, they will use their devices more regularly when they are traveling – this means more opportunities to provide services to consumers when they travel in the EU.
We identify this as a great chance for the tourism sector and xamoom. There is no longer the excuse that “they do not have a network anyway”.
Need more information? Contact us!
Photo credit: Niko Guido, iStockphoto.com