Final vote to end mobile roaming charges in EU passes, new law takes effect in June

It looks like the European Union's plan to get rid of mobile data roaming charges is going through once and for all. While the writing has been on the wall for a long time now, this week, the new law passed its final vote, meaning from from mid-June onwards, EU citizens won't need to pay extra for calls, texts or mobile data while travelling to other EU countries.

“Today's final vote in the Council clears the path for free roaming,” said Dr Emmanuel Mallia, the Maltese Minister for Competitiveness and Digital. “When Europeans go on holiday this summer, they can enjoy the freedom of being able to stay in touch and use the internet as if they were at home.”

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Plans to eventually get rid of data roaming charges originated back in 2015, which resulted in a cap being placed on the amount EU networks could charge for roaming. Now the end-goal has been reached, with roaming charges in Europe going away as of the 15th of June 2017. This new law will also affect some non EU member countries too, including Iceland and Norway.

With the UK set to leave the European Union, it is unclear how long this particular law will apply to us but with other non-EU members taking part, I would hope that this law would carry over for us too, even after the UK's split.

KitGuru Says: Roaming charges have been an issue for years now, so it is nice to finally see something done about them.

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