The European Union (EU) has reached an agreement, which will see an end to roaming charges across member countries of the EU from June 15, 2017. However, the European Commission (EC) notes that abusive usage of this policy will not be allowed: The rules prevent abusive uses: for example, if the customer buys a SIM card in another EU country where domestic prices are lower to use it at home; or if the customer permanently stays abroad with a domestic subscription of his home country. This is not the usual use of roaming as the vast majority of Europeans experience it. These unusual behaviours are also called 'permanent roaming' and could have a negative impact on domestic prices, and ultimately on consumers. This is why there is a fair use safeguard. Once that limit is reached while being abroad, a small basic fee can be charged. This will be much lower than current caps (maximum prices that operators can charge consumers for roaming in the EU) and is likely to decrease even further. The EC has been mandated to define what the fair usage limit will be. What happens between now and June 2017? - The roaming rates across EU, as they stand now, will remain intact till April 2016. The current roaming rates are: €0.19 per minute of call made, €0.06 per SMS sent, and €0.20 per MB of data (excluding VAT). More on this here. - From April 2016, the roaming rates are expected to reduce further: telecom operators…
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