End of roaming charges in the European Union!

From 15 June 2017 travellers will not have roaming charges when travelling to another EU country. Every existing or new contract that includes roaming services will change to “roam like at home” contract. New EU rules will cover data services, voice calls and SMS.

What does this mean?

Phone calls, SMS and going online with your mobile device from another EU country will be covered in the national bundle. The minutes of calls, SMS and megabytes of data that a person consumes abroad within the EU will be charged the same as at home.

Is it valid for international calls also?

The new rights cover communications (calls, SMS, data) made when roaming in the EU, which means when travelling abroad in the EU. The prices of calls from home to a foreign country (international calls), including in the EU, are not regulated.

Does it cover unlimited plans also?

Travellers with unlimited calls and SMS, will get unlimited calls and SMS when roaming in the EU. However if a person has unlimited mobile data or very cheap mobile data at home, his operator may apply a safeguard (fair use) limit on data use while roaming. If this limit occurs the operator will have to inform the customer in advance about such a limit, and alert them when they reach this limit. Beyond this data limit, you can continue data roaming, subject to a small charge (maximum €7.70/GB + VAT; this will decline gradually to reach €2.50/GB as of 2022).

For how long?

The general rule is that as long as you spend more time at home than abroad, or you use your mobile phone more at home than abroad over any 4-month period, you can roam at domestic prices when travelling wherever in the EU. This is considered a fair use of roaming services. If this is not the case, your mobile operator may contact you, and charge you extra roaming fee (about these charges see next point).

What happens if you exceed the limits of roam like home. What are the charges?

Beyond roam like at home fair use policy, your operator may apply a small charge on roaming consumption:

  •     3.2 cents per minute of voice call made (+VAT)
  •     1 cent per SMS (+VAT)
  •     €7.7 per GB of data (+VAT) (less than 1 cent per MB)

Which countries can you roam like at home?

From 15 June 2017 in all 28 countries of the EU you can roam like at home.

In the countries of the European Economic Area: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway roam like at home will be introduced shortly after 15 June 2017.

Will you be notified about the new rule?

Yes. Your operator should inform you about the end of roaming charges and how your particular tariff will be affected (e.g. by the fair use policy), and your contract will be adjusted accordingly.

When you cross an EU border after 15 June 2017, you will continue to receive an SMS informing you that you are roaming. That SMS will remind you of any fair use policy on roaming applied by your operator.

Is it automatic, do you have to activate it?

You do not need to set anything up. Your operator will automatically cease to apply the roaming charges from 15 June 2017.

If you need more information about the new rule please visit website of the European Commission.

end of roaming in the european union

Source of the photos: Twitter of European Commission