Roaming charges within the EU will be a thing of the past from June 15th 2017 an agreement reached by the European Parliament.
North-West MEP Marian Harkin (Independent) has welcomed the news.
“The EU Parliament and in particular my own group ALDE fought to end roaming charges. We promised it before the election and finally we have delivered it. Initially the Parliament wanted roaming charges to end by 2015 but there was strong opposition from a number of Member States,” she said.
“However the determination of the EU Parliament paid off and now we have a compromise to end roaming by June 2017. This decision will make a real difference to consumers and to businesses across the EU.
Under this agreement consumers will pay the same price for calls, texts and mobile data as they do at home – wherever they are travelling in the EU.
The agreement also establishes rules on net neutrality where users will be free to access the content of their choice and will not be unfairly blocked or slowed down anymore – this means for example that access to a start-up´s website will not be unfairly slowed down to make way for bigger companies.
She added: “In the open internet all traffic will be treated equally, subject to strict and clearly identified public interest exceptions such as network security or combatting child pornography. This is a historic agreement that will reduce costs to consumers and businesses and will help to move the EU into the digital age.”
(Source – Donegal Now – 30/06/2015)