Copying and distributing are prohibited without permission of the publisher
EU sets €50 bill limit for roaming data
01 March 2010
Travellers within the 27 member countries of the European Union will pay no more than €50 a month for roaming data
Read more:
[EU]
[mobile data]
[mobile broadband]
[European Union]
[Neelie Kroes]
The European Union has imposed its new rule that requires operators to limit customers’ spending on data services when they are roaming in other EU countries.
The regulation, which came into effect on March 1 2010, means that operators have to cut customers off — after a warning — once they have exceeded a pre-set agreed limit.
Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner in charge of the EU’s digital agenda, said: “Protection against data roaming bill shocks is a useful step towards building customers’ confidence to use mobile networks to surf the internet when travelling around Europe.â€
Under the new regulation, with the European Commission announced in 2009, mobile phone operators are obliged to offer their customers a monthly cut-off limit of €50 — but they can also offer customers any other limit.
Customers will get a warning when they hit €40 or 80% of the chosen limit. For the next four months, customers who do not choose a limit will be able to continue. But after July 1, operators must set a default limit of €50 if no other value is set.
The rule should avoid future examples of horror stories of people facing €46,000 bills for watching their favourite TV programmes online while in a different EU country.
But the limit applies only to EU customers in other EU countries: there is no limit for EU travellers outside the 27 EU member states, or for non-EU visitors to the EU. GTB
[Click here to download the PDF]