EU officially abolishes phone roaming charges

From June 15, the European Union (EU) will officially eliminate roaming charges for citizens when they travel to other countries in the bloc.

Since June 15, the EU has officially eliminated roaming charges for mobile phones across the bloc - Photo: DPA

According to DW (Germany), this is considered a victory for the EU, a victory that allows Brussels to protect citizens of this union from "exploitation" by telecommunications companies.

After a decade of negotiations, delays and re-negotiations, mobile phone roaming charges will finally be abolished in the EU from June 15.

This means that mobile phone users in the EU who travel to another country in the bloc will only have to pay the same "home" rates for calls, text messages, internet use and data downloads.

Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper, Germany, commented on the event as a "dawn" for consumer rights.

The newspaper said the new deal coming into force was a "victory for the EU", showing that Europe can help improve people's daily lives.

According to the newspaper, about 500 million consumers across the EU will benefit from the new policy.

However, there are still certain problems with this EU "home roaming" policy. For example, telecommunications service providers are still allowed to set data traffic caps for high-speed Internet use with unchanged rates when abroad.

Or in another regulation, different carriers are still allowed to maintain their different regulations in EU territories such as Monaco, Andorra, San Marino….

This means that when EU residents go to those places, they will have to check what mobile network they are using to avoid unwanted charges.

According to TTO