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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, has today called for an end to mobile roaming in Europe in a speech to the European Parliament.
Speaking this morning, Kroes asked the parliament to join her in rushing to complete a package on single market telecoms legislation by Easter 2014.
“I want us to show citizens that the EU is relevant to their lives,” she said. “That we made the digital rules catch up with their legitimate expectations. I want you to be able to go back to your constituents and say that you were able to end mobile roaming costs.”
The commissioner also said that she wanted to push forward on a guarantee of net neutrality and “take real action” on cybercrime and other threats.
She told the parliament that she believed they could deliver a package including these measures by Easter 2014 saying that, while it would be good for the economy, it would also be about “people rather than numbers”.
Take the young generation – the generation that cares most about being connected, but who votes the least. They need a strong and digital economy to escape the unemployment trap. Think also about our aging population: the people who need new digital services to stay healthy and active, without losing their dignity and independence.
Kroes said that the parliament needs to consider “all of the pieces of the jigsaw” and not only personal favourites or the “visible and sexy changes”.
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Great news. Hopefully it will drive down the cost of monthly fees here and we will recieve better value for money. This could be a game changer for mobile operators ripping people.
Look at the UK, some fantastic deals when you sign up to contracts which are cheaper than here, free Tablets, Playstations etc.
You haven’t looked for a while. Visit o2.co.UK. free phones are a thing of the past
Neelie Kroes is f**king awesome. She has been standing up to mobile companies for years. Recent trips outside the EU show just how much we’d still be getting robbed, but for her efforts
You’re absolutely right! It’s quite refreshing actually that she is putting the consumer first and I think she is quite right that it could help the economy as people will probably start to use their mobiles more frequently while abroad as it fits within their plan. Fairplay to her!
I work north of the border a lot, the roaming issue is ridiculous. Really hope this comes into effect.
Bet ya the Tories don’t go for it. We’ll get cheaper calls in Spain than we will in Derry!!
Go to your mobile provider website. There’s a section that very few know about. Click the box and you will get free roaming in the UK.
Free to receive calls, the charge to make calls is only slightly higher than normal.
Doesn’t apply to Data though.
Don’t bother asking in a mobile shop, they never actually know it exists.
I’ve had free roaming in UK for the past 3-4 years.
Won’t give free advertising to my provider, but I’ve no roaming in the UK for data or voice. I take my current package with me. I’ve two SIMs, one for phone, another for tablet, both with no roaming between both countries. Shop around.
With good service like that mate, maybe it’s not advertising but sharing.
About time!! We’ve all been gouged for years….
She brought in a cap years ago, up to then you could be charged outlandish amounts. I remember paying £1.35/min old money to receive a call on holidays.
Roaming is Stone Age..Viber all the way..
Viber call quality sucks
Much better than Skype
And there is free wifi or 3G/4g good enough to use Viber all over Europe….
Didn’t think so
Please do tell David,
If roaming is in the stone age, how exactly do you use Viber when you don’t have a wifi connection in another country?
Oh, wait, it wouldn’t need data roaming would it?? Oh and lets not forget those charges for data roaming.
So its actually still in the stone age as well I guess eh? :)
Unless on WiFi you’re going have to use that stone age roaming to connect to viber …
Viber listens in to your phone calls.
Think ill stick with the good old fashion phone box…
I hope they aren’t bundling cybercrime together with free roaming as a way to make us forget about losing some internet freedom. Hopefully when they say cybercrime they aren’t talking about filesharing and censorship. If it’s real crimes then I’m all for it.
Michelle, do you know about the other changes she wanted to make?
I’d prefer the “visible and sexy changes” tbh!!!
This is one of them…
I changed network last month from O2 to 3 because roaming is totally free, even data roaming is included. Living close to the boarder I can receive and make calls and browse the Internet in 3UK for no extra cost.
We need the same rules with car,Life & house insurance-we’ve been getting ripped off for years!
Imagine being able to buy any Insurance from any company in any EU Country!
Same with VRT- needs to be scrapped to bring us in line with the UK -just see the amount of jobs that would create in car sales booms!
100% with you on that one, the 4 freedoms should include consumer purchases.
Buying new cars is terrible for our balance of trade, and the jobs it creates are of relatively low value.
Nellie Kroes for president
I’m sure Ms Kroes means well, but let’s not forget that she’s a politician and a member of what is arguably the EU’s unelected government and chief legislator (the Parliament being deprived of full legislative initiative). Her job is not to make our lives easier, although she may do so incidentally, but to increase both her own hold on power and that of her organisation. Moves like this are, in fact, visible, sexy tricks: they are aimed at endearing people to an undemocratic, unelected organisation whose whim becomes law.
I’m of course all for cheaper mobile costs. But I really feel that this reform, if it happens, will be yet more proof that we do not live in a democratic Europe: we live in a Europe ruled by a small group of unelected Commissioners to whom we should feel grateful for making our lives easier in small ways. What if Ms Kroes didn’t have such a passion for this issue? Imagine how hard it would then be to make our agenda theirs.
Don’t be fooled. This is empire-building in progress.
Bout time.robbing cretins them mobile operators
Just saying!
Meteor did away with roaming charges in Europe over a year ago
It’s one thing to have standard pricing across the EU, but an entirely different thing to allow use of bundles (pay monthly minutes, pay as you go data bundles) abroad – which are they going after?
If the former, the operators will just makes “regular use” extremely expensive so they can continue to charge extortionate prices abroad, but make at-home-only bundles that are reasonably priced that everyone will be on.
have your say