European consumer organisation
BEUC reacted critically to Tuesday's deal to scrap mobile
roaming charges across all EU member states from June 2017,
saying the "devil was in the detail".
"The abolition of retail roaming prices by 2017 is
dependent on a wholesale market review being completed, which
promises to be a tough task," BEUC director-general Monique
Goyens said.
"We cannot call it the end of roaming when there are
in-built exceptions to allow providers to charge consumers when
they go abroad if they fear it's too costly. It is critical that
the EU and national governments observe the deadline and finally
ban roaming," she continued.
Likewise, Goyens suggested that new stricter rules agreed
by the European Parliament and Council to guarantee net
neutrality didn't go far enough.
"We applaud the new onus on Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) to treat traffic equally, but safeguards against the
impact of 'specialised services' are not strong enough," she
said.
She was also critical of the negotiators' decision "not to
tackle commercially driven discriminations such as 'zero
rating', where operators exempt content from data allowances and
thereby shepherd users away from competitors' content".
"Such exemptions enable the largest telecoms operators and
content providers to continue to shape the market to the
detriment of consumer choice. Such increasingly common practices
must be addressed," Goyens said.
Tuesday's long-sought deal involves an reduction in roaming
charges from April 30, 2016, to be followed by a total ban the
following year.
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