EU Commission pushes for barring roaming charges by 2016

The EU Commission's new Connected Continent plan proposal envisions the barring of all roaming charges and the boosting of broadband speeds to allow for more affordable communications and higher quality internet access to whole Europe.

The move is already proving quite unpopular with telecoms, which project substantial business losses from a potential move like this one. The EU Commission however is pretty confident that the roaming charges are one of the roadbloacks to achieving of a Paneuropean Telecoms Single Market.

In a recent speech, Neelie Kroes, the EU's digital agenda commissioner, said "[...]the European Commission says no to roaming premiums, yes to net neutrality, yes to investment, yes to new jobs. Fixing the telecoms sector is no longer about this one sector but about supporting the sustainable development of all sectors."

Video source: Euractiv.com

The Commission estimates that if achieved, the Telecoms Single Market will allow for a 1% yearly growth of GDP. The proposal aims to boost the performance of the EU telecoms market, which reportedly is well behind the US and Asia.

The specific measure proposed by the plan is barring the incoming calls roaming charges and slashing the price ceiling for outgoing calls across the EU borders down to €0.19 per minute.

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