European Commission - Questions and answers

Questions and Answers: Roaming*

Brussels, 9 December 2021
Why is a new Roaming Regulation needed?
Thanks to the EU Roaming Regulation, roaming charges ended on 15 June 2017. Europeans
travelling within the EU only pay domestic prices for calls, SMS and data. The current regulation is in
place until 30 June 2022.
In November 2019, the Commission published an extensive review of the roaming market, showing
that travelers across the EU have benefitted significantly from the end of roaming charges. It is
therefore important to preserve these benefits by prolonging the existing regulation. The review
shows that without continuing the existing framework, the conditions on the mobile telecoms market
would still not ensure an economically sustainable ‘roam like at home' for operators offering roaming
services to everyone travelling in the EU. The Commission also carried out a public consultation, in
the period June to September 2020, to collect views on retail and wholesale roaming services as well
as on the impact of prolonging and reviewing these rules.
Building on the outcome of the public consultation, the Commission proposed on 24 February 2021 a
new Roaming Regulation aimed at extending the rules for another 10 years and further enhancing its
benefits for the citizens. The new Regulation is set to come into force on 1 July 2022, in time to
ensure continued ‘Roam like at home' benefits for European consumers.
What will change in the new Roaming Regulation?
The new regulation will extend the current rules and will bring new additions.
First, consumers will have access to the same services abroad in the EU as at home, when the same
networks and technologies are available on the network in the visited Member State. A roaming
customer who can use 5G services at home should also have 5G roaming services when this is
available in the visited Member State.
Second, consumers will be better informed about the types of services that can bring additional
costs, such as calling customer service numbers, helpdesks or insurance companies. These services
can be free of charge or cost less when phoning from home, but when roaming additional charges
may apply.
Third, consumers will be informed by way of short message (SMS) about additional charges for using
roaming services on so-called non-terrestrial networks. Such networks are usually used for mobile
connections on board planes and boats and are not covered by roaming rules. Roaming on such
networks will often bring additional costs. When citizens travel by plane or boat, their mobile phones
may unintentionally connect to a non-terrestrial network. Operators should also offer tools for the
customers to avoid additional costs such as opting out from connections to non-terrestrial networks.
In addition, roaming services will be automatically interrupted when the consumer reaches a total
cost of €50, or another predefined limit, to avoid further charges. This also applies to roaming
outside the Union.
The new Regulation also ensures that at wholesale level, operators inform each other on how to
ensure access to emergency services and caller location, not only for calls to ‘112' but also for
alternative means of access. Roaming customers receive a message when they enter a Member State
with information about calls to ‘112' and other available means of access to emergency services.
Operator should ensure awareness of emergency services for end-users with disabilities. Roaming
customers will be informed via the national public warning applications where these are available.
Who will benefit from the new Roaming Regulation?
The new Roaming Regulation will benefit European citizens, businesses and operators alike.
The new rules will enhance the ‘Roam like at home' experience of citizens, who will be able to enjoy
the same mobile network quality and speed abroad, as they enjoy at home.
Operators will be able to continue providing ‘Roam like at home' services in an economically
sustainable way. This is because on one hand the new rules include lower wholesale rate caps, i.e.
the maximum prices that the domestic operator pays the operator abroad to provide roaming
services. On the other hand, the new wholesale rate caps also ensure cost recovery for visited
operators and can help further increase roaming traffic.
Businesses will benefit from improved connectivity in the Single Market. This is particularly
important for application developers and start-ups, because it implies that consumers can
continuously use their innovative applications and services as they travel across borders in the EU,
without network interruptions.
Will consumers have the same network speed guaranteed while roaming?
In order to provide roaming services to their customers, operators have to use networks that are
available in other EU countries and managed by other operators. Since network availability
throughout the EU varies, the same mobile network speed may not always be available. However, the
new rules aim to ensure that when similar quality or speeds are available in the visited network, the
domestic operator should ensure the same quality of the roaming service. In other words, if a
consumer has access to 5G connectivity at home, he or she should not have 4G connectivity while
roaming, as long as 5G is available at the visited location. According to the new roaming proposal,
operators should inform their customers of the quality of services they can expect while roaming, by
stating this in the roaming contract and publishing information on their website.
What are ‘value-added services' and why should consumers be aware of those while
roaming?
Communications to some phone numbers are charged in a specific way because of the added value
of the service. Examples may be customer care services offered by insurance companies or banks.
They also include entertainment services, for example calling a specific number to vote for winner in
a popular TV programme.
For domestic calls to numbers that provide value added services, the costs vary: for example, they
may be free or they may cost more than regular calls. Since they are subject to special charging
schemes domestically, when roaming these calls typically entail additional charges that the customer
may not expect. For example, a call that is free at home may not be free or may be more expensive
than expected while roaming.
The proposed new regulation aims at providing transparency to consumers about value-added
services and increasing their awareness about phone numbers that may be used to access value-
added services. The objective is to give consumers practical tools to make informed choices about
using value-added services numbers while roaming and avoid ‘bill shocks'.
Operators can ensure this by including information about the types of services that may be subject
to higher charges in roaming in their contracts with the consumers. In addition, when citizens are
entering another EU country, they should receive an SMS about potential increased charges from
using such services. The SMS should include a link to a dedicated webpage providing additional
information on the types of services and, if available, about the relevant phone numbering ranges.
How will the new rules ensure citizens' effective access to emergency services, particularly
through alternative means, when roaming?
The single European emergency number, 112, it set up in a way that ensures that everyone calling
number has effective access to emergency services while roaming everywhere in the EU. Dialing the
emergency numbers and transmitting information on the location of the caller while roaming should
be seamless and for free. Likewise, citizens who cannot place a call to 112 should be able to access
emergency services free of charge through alternative means when roaming, for example through
real time text or a smartphone application.
The new roaming rules also reinforce access to emergency services, through calls and alternative
means of communications in case of cross border use. It will also ensure that the transmission of
caller location will be seamless and free of charge while using roaming services.
EU travelers should also be well informed about the available means of accessing emergency services
in the visited Member State. Therefore, the new regulation will ensure that roaming customers are
provided information about the single European emergency number, 112, but also about alternative,
non-voice means of access for end-users with disabilities.
In addition, in Member States where public warning mobile applications are deployed, roaming
customers will be notified of the existence thereof and instruction on how to download the app
concerned. This is complementary to the existing requirement that Member States deliver public
warning messages to end-users, without the need of prior action by a roaming customer.
How will the Roaming Regulation ensure that ‘Roam like at home' is economically
sustainable for operators and regulate wholesale caps?
The regulation of wholesale caps, i.e. the maximum prices that a visited operator may charge the
other operator while roaming, is an essential element for the sustainability of ‘roam like at home' for
operators and continues to be necessary based on the assessment of current technological and
business developments. The review of the roaming market in the EU showed that wholesale caps
should be further reduced. The co-legislators agreed on a gradual reduction of the wholesale caps
from 2022 onwards. These caps reflect decreasing operators' wholesale costs of providing roaming
services, provide sufficient investment incentives and maximise sustainability for EU operators.
Wholesale caps glide path from 2022 onwards:

2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027

onwards

Voice 0.022 0.022 0.022 0.019 0.019 0.019

€/min €/min €/min €/min €/min €/min

SMS 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.003 0.003 0.003

€/SMS €/SMS €/SMS €/SMS €/SMS €/SMS

Data 2 €/GB 1.8

€/GB
1.55
€/GB
1.3
€/GB
1.1
€/GB 1.0 €/GB

Will lower wholesale caps benefit consumers?

Yes, lower wholesale caps will very likely benefit consumers. The data volume that is available when
roaming on the basis of unlimited data is determined by a calculation that is based on the wholesale
charge. The exceptional surcharges that operators can apply are also based on the wholesale
charges. Therefore, if the wholesale charges decrease, the surcharge decreases and the minimum
data volumes available for roaming in the Union will increase for subscriptions with unlimited
domestic data volumes and the likelihood of operators exceptionally applying surcharges will
decrease.
What will happen with the ‘fair use' policies?
Operators will still be able to apply a ‘fair use' policy. The rules on the ‘fair use' policy remain the
same. This means that if a person is traveling to another EU country periodically, then this person
can use roaming. If a person moved to live in another EU country, then it is better to move to a local
contract, as permanent roaming is no longer considered as ‘fair use'.
How does the Roaming Regulation facilitate innovation?
The new Roaming Regulation will ensure that consumers and businesses can use mobile services
with the same quality of service as at home and that operators inform their customers adequately
about the quality they can expect abroad. The regulation also includes measures to ensure that
operators can have access to all network generations and technologies necessary in other EU
countries to provide the same services to citizens abroad as the ones they provide domestically.
For application developers and start-ups, this means that consumers can continuously use their
innovative applications and services as they travel across borders in the EU, without network
interruptions. This is particularly relevant for applications that offer mobility solutions,
accommodation, or other services related to tourism and all those applications that might be
particularly useful while travelling.
The EU is investing in developing and using innovative digital solutions, such as 5G (and in the
future 6G) networks. The quality of service will likely become an increasingly important element of
the mobile service offer. As concerns 5G services, it will become more and more important for
consumers travelling abroad to know if they could be affected by limitations in available network
quality when using certain applications and services. The new roaming rules aim to enable innovation
and business development, ensuring the widest use of innovative services and minimising the risk
that citizens would not be able to use certain applications requiring the latest network technology,
such as 5G, when crossing internal EU borders.
For More Information
Roaming in the EU
Brochure on Roaming
Questions and Answers: Roaming
Reports and Studies about Roaming
*Updated on 09/12/2021
QANDA/21/654

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Marietta GRAMMENOU (+32 2 298 35 83)
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