Delay with scrapping roaming rates

23.7.2015

Question for written answer E-011870-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Miguel Viegas (GUE/NGL)

Under the plan announced by former Commissioner Neelie Kroes and the then Commission, European operators were to be obliged to scrap the additional costs of calls made from abroad from mid-2014. Later, in 2015, the mobile-data costs were to be permanently scrapped.

More recently, the Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger, has stated that roaming rates could be scrapped in the EU from the second quarter of 2017. In the words of the Commissioner, the Commission, the 28 Member States and the European Parliament will need to reach an agreement on this issue quickly.

In view of this situation, which is bound to cause confusion amongst consumers, can the Commission explain the reason for this delay?