EU member states called Wednesday for a reduction in mobile phone roaming charges across the bloc starting in mid-2016, but proposed to delay efforts to cut the fees entirely.
The stance puts the national governments in opposition to EU lawmakers on the matter. At present, mobile phone customers in the European Union face extra roaming charges for calls, text messages or internet usage in member states other than their own. The European Commission and Parliament want to scrap these fees by the end of this year.
Instead, member states agreed Wednesday to take an "intermediate step towards phasing out roaming fees," by setting limits below which consumers can roam without accruing extra charges on top of the domestic fee, reported German press agency (dpa).
"Once this basic roaming allowance is used up, the operator may charge a fee, but this fee will be much lower than current charges," EU ambassadors agreed, according to a statement from Latvia, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency.
EU lawmakers lashed out at the member states' joint position, which is the starting point for negotiations between the parliament, EU governments and commission.
This is extremely disappointing. To say this text lacks ambition is an understatement," said liberal EU lawmakers Guy Verhofstadt. "The only winners from it are national telecoms operators themselves. Member states should hang their heads in shame." Mobile companies cannot explain to date how the high surcharges for services abroad arise," said Socialist EU lawmaker Constanze Krehl, calling for roaming fees to be abolished as soon as possible.
At present, mobile phone operators cannot charge customers who are in another EU country more than 0.19 euros (0,21 dollars) per minute for outgoing calls, 0.05 euros for incoming calls, 0.06 euros per SMS or 0.2 euros per megabyte of data, plus taxes.
Removing roaming fees is seen as a key factor in breaking down national barriers between telecoms markets in EU member states.
EU Digital Economy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger welcomed the deal reached Wednesday, calling on all sides to now "use this political drive and swiftly reach an agreement." Meanwhile, industry association ETNO warned that, given the need to promote growth and jobs across Europe, "weakening revenues" is in nobody's interest.