Charges based on fair use



The European Parliament welcomed the idea and fought hard to ensure that the time spent by a user abroad is not limited to a specific duration, but is based on the generous principle of fair use. This means that as long as you spend more time using your phone at home than you do in another EU country, you will be able to “roam like at home".



To fight abuse of the regulation, for example by buying a phone contract in a country where prices are cheaper and use it primarily in another country, a telecom operator could ask for additional roaming charges where the use abroad exceeds the use at home.



Roaming charges will also be eliminated in Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein, which are part of the European Economic Area.



The collapse of roaming charges



EU institutions tackled roaming charges for the first time in 2007 when they set maximum prices. At the time the price of international roaming far exceeded the cost sustained by mobile operators. In 1998 a phone call abroad still cost €1.63 per minute, but by 2014 this had been reduced to 19 cents. From April 2016 the surcharges for a phone call were capped at five cents per minute.



Roaming costs play an important role in the roaming market, which grew by 630% in 2007-2013.



Once the portability regulation enters into force in the first half of 2018, it will also be possible to watch online content from a subscription in the home country when abroad at no extra cost.