Brussels, 1 February 2017

As of 15 June, Europeans will be able to travel in the EU without roaming charges, after representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agreed on how to regulate wholesale roaming markets.

The EU institutions agreed on how to regulate the prices operators charge each other when their customers use other networks when roaming in the EU.

This political agreement is a final achievement to make "roam-like-at-home" a reality from 15 June 2017, as foreseen in the Telecom Single Market (TSM) Regulation.

It means that when travelling in the EU, consumers will be able to call, send SMS or surf on their mobile at the same price they pay at home. The agreement makes "roam-like-at-home" sustainable for people and businesses, while ensuring cost recovery and keeping national wholesale roaming markets competitive.

Thanks to this political agreement on wholesale rules and the rules on fair use policy and sustainability adopted by the Commission in December 2016, consumers can use their home subscriptions when travelling periodically abroad. If consumers exceed their contract limits when roaming, any additional charges will not be higher than the wholesale roaming caps agreed.

EU negotiators agreed on the following wholesale caps:

• 3.2 cents per minute of voice call, as of 15 June 2017

• 1 cent per SMS, as of 15 June 2017

• A step by step reduction over 5 years for data caps decreasing from €7.7 per GB (as of 15 June 2017) to €6 per GB (as of 1 January 2018), €4.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2019), €3.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2020), €3 per GB (as of 1 January 2021) and €2.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2022).