(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The European Union (EU) yesterday reached a preliminary deal to abolish mobile roaming charges across the 28-country bloc by June 2017 and to require telecom operators to treat all Internet traffic equally. The draft agreement for the end of roaming surcharges on June 15, 2017, marks an important step in the EU's plan to overhaul the continent's digital market to boost growth and catch up with the US and Asia.
However, consumer groups gave the news a lukewarm reception, saying network operators would be able to limit the amount of surcharge-free roaming due to a "fair use" clause designed to stop users permanently roaming with a cheaper foreign contract.
The deal, struck between EU lawmakers and Latvia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, will require approval from the European Parliament and EU member states, some of whom have not wanted roaming charges abolished until December 2018.
In an interim move, roaming charges will drop in April 2016, with maximum surcharges of 0.05 euros per minute of a call or megabyte of data and 0.02 euros per text sent.
That will make the maximum roaming charge about 75% cheaper than under current tariff caps, the Commission said.
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