Europeans for fair roaming

April 25, 2012 · 11:16 am

ITRE committee gives green light to EU roaming deal

According to Paul Rübig, member of the European Parliament’s ITRE committee, the ITRE committee yesterday formally accepted the new EU roaming regulation. The details of the regulation that will bring down prices for roaming were agreed on between the two EU lawmakers, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, at the end of March.

After the ITRE committee has now accepted the new regulation, it will be voted on by the European Parliament in early May and the Council of Ministers in June and come in force by July 1. Thanks to the work of Europeans for Fair Roaming and like-minded organisations and members of Parliament, prices will then be slashed even more than originally proposed by the European Commission.

To read the statement by Paul Rübig in German, head over to his website.

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Tagged as European Parliament, Fair Roaming, ITRE committee, Paul Rübig, roaming

March 28, 2012 · 2:44 pm

[Press Release] Citizens’ Initiative welcomes EU deal for lower roaming costs

Yesterday evening, the EU lawmakers European Parliament and the Council of Ministers managed to broker a deal that will allow mobile phone, smart phone and tablet users to enjoy much lower costs when using their devices abroad. The deal came after some hard discussions between the two institutions. The citizens’ initiative “Europeans for Fair Roaming” that has been working on this issue warmly welcomes the agreement, even though it hoped for a fast reduction in prices.

According to the deal, prices for roaming will be lowered to 29ct/min for calls and 70ct/MB for internet access in July 2012 and will keep going down to 19ct/min for calls and 20ct/MB for internet access by 2014. In addition, users will be enabled to choose a different operator for roaming which should bring about more competition.

Consumer interests defended

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Tagged as agreement, Council of the European Union, data roaming, deal, European Parliament, European Union, Fair Roaming

March 26, 2012 · 11:13 am

Roaming: Seeing through the smoke screen

We just published a small information flyer with the best overview over the roaming issue, key facts and the demands for a fair, sustainable roaming policy. Download it here now: Roaming: Seeing through the smoke screen

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Tagged as Council, dossier, European Union, facts, Fair Roaming, information, roaming, Smoke screen

March 16, 2012 · 1:19 pm

[Press Release] European Parliament and Council at odds over roaming

At a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the EU with representatives from the European Parliament and the European Commission, some national ministers stated that they are against lower prices for roaming in the EU.

According to reports, the Council does not want to follow the proposal of the European Parliament to further lower prices. Instead, ministers are defending the interests of big telecommunications companies and their practice of charging extreme fees for using mobile phones and tablets abroad. In addition, the Council wants to limit influence of the Parliament in the implementation of further rules through the so-called Comitology procedure. Continue reading →