The European Parliament approves the February agreement reached between the 27 member states and gives the final go-ahead to the elimination of roaming
The official confirmation has arrived, putting an end to the doubts circulating in recent days. Roaming will be definitively abolished on June 15 and replaced by the single digital market, which will allow citizens of the 27 member states to use their cell phones without incurring additional costs.
The official green light was given yesterday by the European Parliament, which sanctioned with a vote - 549 in favor, 27 against, 50 abstentions - the end of roaming. Nothing to do therefore for those who hoped and thought to obtain a postponement of other 12 months. The vote is important and represents an epoch-making turning point as from June 15 it will be possible to call, send messages and surf the web using the rates stipulated with the operator to which you belong, even if you are abroad. The main mobile operators will therefore be forced to adapt to the new regulations in order to avoid sanctions.
No postponement
The decision of the European Parliament formalizes the agreement reached last February by the 27 member countries. Agreement that seemed to waver after the publication by Berec, the body of European regulators of electronic communications, of the guidelines that had feared the risk of postponement of a year. In reality, as confirmed by the European Commission, the only operators who will be able to ask for a 12-month extension of the new rule will be those whose overall losses exceed 3%.
In this category are mainly virtual operators, who would be forced to bear excessive costs. In fact, they pay roaming to European operators for their customers and are not able to balance their expenses with incoming tourism. For all the others - Tim, Vodafone and Wind-Tre in Italy - from the 15th of June the new regulation will be applied.