A new regulation on roaming in the public mobile communications networks within the European Union (Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union) came into force on 1 July 2022. This new Regulation extends the current regulations and introduces some new ones. Thus, beside reducing the wholesale regulated tariffs and ensuring the users’ access to services of the same quality in all Member States, new transparency obligations are imposed on the operators as regards the tariffs applied and the access to the emergency services for all users, persons with disabilities here included.
Charges valid as of 1 July 2022
The new Regulation provides the gradual lowering of the wholesale roaming price caps, which are the maximum charges the operator from the visited country can levy from the operator in the home country, starting 1 July 2022.
From the same date, the extra charges that can be applied for extra-consumption, when the limits of fair use of roaming services in EU/EEA are exceeded, will also decrease, so that by the end of 2022 the following extra charges will apply:
- data – EUR 2/GB, without VAT;
- incoming calls – 0.55 eurocents/minute, without VAT;
- outgoing calls – 2.2 eurocents/minute, without VAT;
- sent SMS – 0.4 eurocents/SMS, without VAT.
The extra charges will be applied when the fair use limits are exceeded.
Calculator for Roam like at home data limit: ANCOM app
To facilitate the estimation of the data volume which the users can consume in roaming in EU/EEA without being extra-charged, ANCOM has developed a widget app, which is available here, and which is to be updated with the new charges valid from 1 July 2022.
Other changes brought by Regulation (EU) 2022/612
The main novelty brought by the new legal framework refers to ensuring that the users enjoy the same quality of electronic communications services when roaming as they do domestically, if the required networks and technologies are available in the network from the visited country. Thus, if a user of roaming services has access to 5G services in the home country, he/she should be able to have access to the same services when roaming, if these are available in the visited Member State.
As well, the new Regulation aims at enhancing the users’ awareness with regard to the types of services that can generate additional costs, such as calling customer services, support services or insurance companies. These services can be cost-free or can have a lower tariff in the home country, while they can cost more when roaming.
For the same purpose of enhancing users’ awareness, the Regulation contains provisions on the obligation to alert the users by SMS on the additional costs incurred when using roaming services on non-terrestrial networks, which are regularly used for mobile connections onboard aircraft and ships and are not covered by the roaming regulations.
In addition to the notifications sent to users when they reach the 80% threshold of the implicit financial/data limit (amounting to EUR 50, without VAT) and when they are about to reach the financial or volume limit, the Regulation stipulates that the provider must send an additional notification to the customer’s mobile device if he/she consumes more than EUR 100 in a monthly billing period, without VAT. The notifications in question indicate the procedure the customers need to follow if they wish to continue using the respective services, as well as the costs associated to each additional unit to be consumed. If the user does not respond according to the received instructions, the roaming service provider stops immediately the provision and billing of the data roaming services. The user may request the continuation or the resumption of the services.
The roaming service provider will ensure that, when entering a Member State, the roaming service customers are informed properly on the means of accessing the emergency services in the visited state, including on the alternative means of accessing these services by the persons with disabilities.
Applicability
The Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union applies for a period of 10 years, starting 1 July 2022, except for certain provisions relating to users’ information which will come into force on 1 June 2023. Full information is available here.
