PL MEP Marlene Mizzi said today that in two months, people travelling across Europe will pay no extra costs for using their phones.
She welcomed the final agreement reached between the Maltese presidency and the European Parliament on wholesale price caps between the EU countries. "This agreement was the last stumbling-block, standing in the way of abolishing roaming charges as of 15th of June 2017," said Mizzi.
"The curtain has fallen on these charges, which were so discriminatory. Roaming charges are going to be a thing of the past and people will not even remember their existence," MEP Marlene Mizzi said.
The agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Maltese presidency will set a maximum price telecom providers can charge each other when their customers use their phone abroad. This will enable operators to afford offering roam-like-at-home to their consumers, while at same time safeguarding that they can cover their costs without increasing domestic prices at home. The caps will also have a direct impact on how much mobile data a consumer can use when abroad. The lower the cap, the larger the amount of data.
As the S&D spokesperson on consumer rights for the negotiating team on the roaming legislation, MEP Marlene Mizzi said: "I am so happy that Europe will finally deliver on its promise to abolish roaming charges. This is the end of a very long battle that started almost six years ago with a lot of opposition from different sides. That is why, I am absolutely honoured to have been part of the S&D team, who made a success story out of it defending the interests of citizens and small operators."
"Although all pieces of the puzzle that were needed to meet the 15th June deadline to abolish roaming charges are in place, my fight is still not over. I will continue insisting on the next step of making international EU-calls non-discriminatory by having the same prices for domestic and for cross-border calls and SMSs, so that people will be able to do business, speak with friends and family living in another country, without worrying about excessive bills at the end of the month," said MEP Marlene Mizzi.