EU cross-border roaming charges to end

(by Lucia Sali).
    (ANSA) - Brussels, June 14 - Cross-border mobile phone roaming charges are set to end tomorrow across the European Union.
    The cost of calls, text messages and data downloads will be the same regardless of which EU country travelers are in.
    The 'digital revolution' promoted by the European Commission and supported by the European Parliament will thus be completed.
    Exceptions will be in place, with a few measures aimed at avoiding to damage small virtual operators and prevent abuses including permanent roaming.
    As of tomorrow, calling, sending text messages and surfing the web in one of the 28 European Union countries (plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland but not Switzerland) will have the same cost as in the user's home country.
    Call time, text and data allowances bought as part of a deal or monthly contract at home will be usable anywhere in the EU at no extra charge. The measure includes "fair use" rules.
    Consumers have to be normally resident or have stable links in the member state of the roaming provider to prevent consumers from moving to the cheapest EU provider, among others.
    Mobile phone operators can check on clients if they spend more than four months using roaming in another country and clients have two weeks to clarify their position.
    Users otherwise risk paying a minimum extra charge which is worth what operators charge each other to provide roaming services: 3.2 cents a minute for calls, one cent for text messages and 7.7 euros per gigabyte, a charge set to go down to 2.5 euros in 2022.
    A small extra charge can also be applied in a limit number of instances, including some low-price plans providing for limitless internet loads, as in the instance of small virtual operators, with only part of gigabytes included in the free roaming.
    Cross-border commuters will instead not be charged extra if they use their national operator at least once a day.
    Overall, the new EU rules cover almost all European travelers - for business, leisure or education - including Italians, who on average travel 2.2 days abroad every year.
    A number of operators in Europe (as for example Italy's mobile operator Wind Tre) have already been providing free roaming to clients over the past few months.
    National and European telecommunication authorities will be monitoring the correct implementation of the measure.