The European Commission is championing new regulations to end mobile roaming charges and create a single EU-wide telecom market.

European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes, the commissioner in charge of the digital agenda, has promised to release a package in September to move the EU closer to a single telecom market. Kroes said because of the fractured approach to the telecom industry in the European Union, customers and businesses are being hit with unfair charges and fees.

“This is supposed to be a global network: but it faces border checkpoints, even within our single market,” Kroes said during a committee meeting in Brussels earlier this month.

“In a true single market, there are no artificial roaming charges,” Kroes said. “It's irritating, it's unfair, it belongs to the past. Often, the only remaining reminder of our internal borders is the phone in your pocket. That has to change.”

Kroes said consumers should be able to take their minutes and data plans with them anywhere in Europe.

But Kroes said just getting rid of roaming charges won't create a single market. Rather, the EU needs to create that single market through revised regulations, and roaming charges will end as a result. Telecom providers need to face the same competitive pressure to hold down roaming charges throughout Europe as they do in their home turf, Kroes said.

EU lawmakers already have gone after roaming charges through efforts dating back to 2007. In July, the EU Roaming Regulation forced a 36 percent reduction in price caps on data downloads for users traveling around the EU. Overall, retail prices for calls, data, and SMS have dropped by 80 percent since 2007, the commission reported.

Kroes said Europe is lagging behind other parts of the world in telecom advancements. For example, only 2 percent of European homes have superfast broadband and the EU accounts for only 6 percent of the world's 4G subscriptions.

While current EU frameworks allow telecom providers to operate anywhere in Europe, that is not always practical because of a “tangle of different, incompatible rules.” She suggested she will seek a single authorization system with supervision by home member states, which would result in less red tape and less cost. “That's the boost they already have in sectors from banking to broadcasting,” Kroes said.

Kroes called for better access to networks across borders and more consistent spectrum rules. She also called for consumers to have the right to net neutrality, with more transparency in contracts and a greater ability to switch providers. For providers, an EU-wide “passport” would allow operators based in one member state to provide services in any other member state in the EU.

Industry expert Claire Harris, senior director with FTI Consulting in Brussels, told news site EurActiv that several of the proposals will meet with resistance from the telecom industry, in which former national monopolies still hold dominant market positions. Telecoms trying to upgrade to new technology like 4G networks are already struggling, she said.

“This roaming issue could see margin squeeze at a competitive moment in a competitive market and could pull the rug out from under the carpet of these proposals,” Harris said. She added that the idea of an EU-wide passport could allow newcomers to undercut domestic providers. A centralized auction of spectrum rights could be another thorny issue.

Following a commission hearing on the Single Digital Market last month, the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) said its members also are looking for regulatory reform, but in a way that would boost the struggling sector's prospects rather than mire it further. ETNO Board Chair Luigi Gambardella said proposals like the EU-wide passport would only add to the regulatory burden facing telecoms today.

Other commissioners have called for a full-scale review and overhaul of the telecom sector. But Kroes said that would take years to complete, and instead she is proposing an incremental approach. Kroes is calling for the commission to create an updated regulatory framework to move towards a single market.

“My ambition is large scale, but my approach is pragmatic,” Kroes said. “Today our networks and regulations are largely national. A pragmatic approach is not about digging up those networks, tearing up those rulebooks, and starting again from scratch. It's about taking what we have and adapting it; unblocking the bottlenecks, bringing down the barriers.”

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