Hopefully it’ll actually definitely happen this time, because we’ve been promised an end to roaming charges before. Now, we hope, the European Parliament will stick to the decision.
First, from April 30th next year, an interim cap on roaming charges in Europe will kick in. This will mean that these charges are a maximum additional cost of…
€0.05 (3.5p) extra per minute for calls
€0.02 extra per SMS sent
€0.05 extra per megabyte of data used
Of course, you’ll find that your network will probably be in touch early next year to make it seem like THEY are reducing the charges out of pure love for you, but in reality this is the first part of the process into a full European roaming ban, which starts on June 15th 2017.
From that date, calls, texts and data will cost the same – no matter where you are in Europe.
If this does indeed happen it’ll be a huge bonus for anyone who dares to move around Europe. Currently, insane roaming charges are levied when you move across a border.
Some, however, are worried that this could mean a drop in revenue for mobile networks. It’s long been a “cash cow” and the missing income could be made up by increasing charges for other services, such as standard packages etc.