Brussels renews effort on roaming charges

European travellers using their mobile phones within the European Union could be allowed to choose a different network than the one they subscribe to at home under plans that would upend “roaming” rules.

Brussels is looking at ways to regulate roaming charges in an attempt to change its current approach – moving away from price caps it imposed in 2007, which are due to expire in July 2012. The proposals are part of a plan outlined by Neelie Kroes, telecoms commissioner. She wants roaming charges to disappear within the EU by 2015, meaning there should be no premium to mobile phone calls made while travelling within the 27-member bloc. In a consultation paper, the European Commission outlined the option of moving to a new framework. That could be paired with an overhaul of how operators negotiate the rates at which they carry each other’s calls, by disallowing bilateral deals between operators in favour of a “spot exchange” open to all. The new model, if adopted, would allow customers attached to a single network in their home country to pick from a range of operators as they travelled to other European countries.