Telecoms Single Market: end of roaming by 2015
Date
18 Mar 2014
Sections
InfoSociety
Today the ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committee voted on the draft Telecoms Single Market regulation by Pilar de Castillo MEP (Spain) that will allow Europeans to call from abroad without roaming charges before the end of 2015 all over the EU. It is one of the main, ambitious proposals that were approved by a large majority today in the Committee.
The Rapporteur, Pilar del Castillo, stated today after the votes: “Today, the European Parliament has made one great step towards the consolidation of the Telecommunications Single Market."
94 percent of Europeans who travel outside their home country limit their use of data services like Facebook because of mobile roaming charges, according to the latest figures from Eurostat. 47 percent of Europeans say they would never use mobile internet in another EU country. Furthermore, only 1 out of 10 would use emails in the same way as at home, while more than a quarter of us simply switch off our mobiles when we travel in the EU.
Today, the European Parliament has made one great step towards the consolidation of the Telecommunications Single Market
Pilar de Castillo MEP
Under the new legislation to be approved during the next plenary session in April, posting a picture on Facebook or having a look at emails while abroad will be easier and we should no longer expect shockingly high bills for our mobile communications.
We have achieved further guarantees to maintain the openness of the Internet
Del Castillo added: "Today, not only has the ITRE Committee proposed to abolish retail roaming charges for voice, SMS and data by 15 December 2015, but also bring forward substantial provisions for efficient spectrum management that will allow 4G and 5G deployment throughout Europe. Moreover we have achieved further guarantees to maintain the openness of the Internet by stating that traffic should be treated equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, independent of the sender, receiver, type, content, device, service or application.”
“We are therefore ensuring that users can run and provide applications and services of their choice as well as reinforcing the Internet as a key driver of competitiveness, economic growth, social development and innovation," she concluded.
The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 274 Members from 27 Member States.
MEP Contacts
Pilar del CASTILLO VERA
BRU - Tel: +32 (0)2 2845982 Fax: +32 (0)2 2849982
STR - Tel: +33 (0)3 88 175982 Fax: +33 (0)3 88 179982
Press Contacts
Maria Concepcion Lozano Martinez
Phone: +32 472 99 86 62