EU extends free mobile roaming to 2032

The European Union intends to extend legislation that allows EU citizens to use their phones in any other member country without paying additional fees.

The existing legislation was introduced in 2017, and under the new agreement, residents will be able to make calls, send text messages and browse the Internet while traveling, at no extra charge until 2032, with the same quality and speed of connection as they would have at home.

At the same time, owners of devices that offer 5G services will continue to enjoy these services while roaming. The agreement also lowered wholesale caps. These caps limit the amount that one operator can charge another for a customer using a foreign network.

The new wholesale cap for data will be €2 per GB in 2022 and will be gradually reduced to €1 by 2027. The call caps are currently €0.19 and the EU says they will be reviewed over time.

What remains now is for the informal agreement to be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council to become law.

Angelika Winzig MEP, the European Parliament's negotiator for the new roaming rules for mobile networks said:

We were able to reach an agreement that is progressive and leads to even better quality and service for European citizens are creating a fairer roaming market, especially focusing on smaller operators by significantly cutting the wholesale caps. As European Parliament chief negotiator, it was my goal to improve the situation significantly for consumers.

We succeeded in ensuring a new regulation that delivers exactly that, while also providing enough flexibility to react to new developments in the telecom and technological sectors. This way we make sure that the EU constantly has its finger on the pulse. Tonight’s agreement is one step closer to a true Digital Single Market and I am happy that we could add a new chapter to this European success story.

It should be mentioned that roaming legislation was in place in the UK before leaving the EU, however, many providers have since abolished free-roaming on offer.