The European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee says it wants to see wholesale roaming service suppliers cutting prices below the EU price cap. It’s approved legislation that would allow consumers to buy roaming services separately from their ‘home’ mobile service. The new rules would also set limits on retail data roaming charges and would further reduce roaming price caps for calls and SMS text messages.
Angelika Niebler, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the draft legislation, said “We need to stimulate real competition among mobile operators and guarantee fair roaming prices for EU consumers who are on holiday or travelling for work.”
Data roaming charges are proposed to start at €0.50 (around 50p incl. VAT) per megabyte from July 2012, falling to €0.20 per megabyte of data in 2014.
The new Euro tariff will become law from 1st July 2012 if it’s approved by a majority of MEPs.