

EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges - Libertatea
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247411/EU_votes_net_neutrality_into_law_abolishes_mobile_roaming_charges

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sveme
I said it before in the other thread, but I guess it's worth reemphasizing:
The abolishment of roaming charges is huge and could really establish a single
telecoms market. This point has somehow been lost in all the excitement and
discussions about net neutrality.

Why is this huge?

The differences between domestic rates and non-domestic rates are what kept
the European Telecoms market from becoming truly European. As a German, the
only viable option if I am spending most my time within Germany was to go with
a German carrier. Now with the removal of roaming charges, the EU becomes the
domestic market and in principle I could shop around other EU countries to
find the best deal. Austria for example has some really good deals, so maybe I
will go with a carrier from there. And with SEPA even billing should not be an
issue.

The other (intended) thing this will spur is further consolidation of the EU
Telecoms market as there will suddenly be a much larger number of competing
players on the market. As I said, in principle Austrian Telecoms are now for
the first time directly competing for customers with Spanish Telecoms in
Germany, so I guess we'll see a lot more mergers in the close future. Which
might turn out to be anticompetitive in the long run, mind.

(I blogged about it here [1] in more detail and with a few more resources, in
case anyone is interested. Happy to explore this further with anyone into this
topic)

[1] [http://sveme.org/removing-eu-roaming-charges-is-a-big-
deal.h...](http://sveme.org/removing-eu-roaming-charges-is-a-big-deal.html)

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DougWebb
Being pessimistic... as the European Telecoms becomes "truly European", the
carriers will probably start merging. Eventually you'll wind up where we are
in the US, with a couple of huge carriers, a moderately sized carrier, and
some small carriers that barely count. And then they'll start colluding, and
providing poor service because they don't have to compete anymore.

Welcome to the club.

~~~
silon5
It's about time to progressively tax (VAT, not profit) companies in "monopoly"
markets.

~~~
fosap
In germany companies in monopoly markets (e.g. power transmission) have a
fixed profit margin (I think 10%).

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spindritf
Paying the same rate at home as abroad is huge. I don't think I have ever
experienced throttling but roaming charges make your phone almost entirely
useless few kilometres beyond the border. You have to switch SIM cards, or
chase WiFi. And the new regulation will include data[1].

One thing that worries me is what this means for small, local providers who
often have great rates but are not backed by any of the EU-wide groups
(Orange, T-Mobile).

[1] [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
europe-26866966](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26866966)

~~~
Mexxer
This is a huge step. But the EU states still have to agree on that. So it will
probably still take many months for a final decision.

~~~
sentenza
We are in the lucky position, however, that there is an EU parliament election
coming up. Since the national parties feel quite embarrassed if their
representatives don't perform, nobody will be willing to oppose the immensely
popular move to abolish roaming.

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SEMW
Title is wrong. It hasn't been "voted into law". It's passed its second
reading in the European Parliament. Since the EP proposed amendments, it must
now go back to the Council of Ministers for a second reading there. If they
approve the EP's amendments, _then_ it will become law; if not it'll go to a
conciliation committee for the Parliament and Council to hash out their
differences.

The article sort-of acknowledges this on the last line, but that doesn't
excuse the title.

(It's this error that gave e.g. the several dozen "UK gay marriage law
passes!" stories we got spread out over a six month period. Apparently the
media keeps forgetting that legislative procedures take a long time and
involves lots of votes at various stages, and runs a "X voted into law!11one"
story at each stage...)

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acjohnson55
It strikes me that the EU and the USA are really going in different directions
in governmental philosophy.

The EU seems to be moving toward regulation to assure QoS (if you will) for
consumers and harmonization across jurisdictions, relying on business to make
do within centrally established frameworks.

The USA, on the other hand, is moving toward empowerment of established
interests and relying on self-organization on the governmental and business
levels to hopefully produce ideal outcomes. I see this happening in the
rulings on net neutrality, electoral regulation, and IP. It seems to be driven
by all three branches of government. I guess we'll see if the upcoming Aereo
SCOTUS decision continues this trend.

I'm sure this abstraction is super-leaky...

~~~
atmosx
> It strikes me that the EU and the USA are really going in different
> directions in governmental philosophy.

You don't have the right perspective: The EU project since 2008 has show all
of its flaws. It has been heavily jeopardized and it's in the brink of
collapse. All these _politicians_ in Brussels are not directly elected.
Actually there's a huge discussion if they should be considered _elected_ or
_appointed_. Since the -crisis stepped in, the European Parliament has been
reduced into a Clown. No decision is being made there and it's seen by the
entire north and south as the mother of all evils. Germany is in control now.

So in order to get back some support, it is trying to become _more social_. Up
until now the only good thing that ever came it was the ridiculous USB thing
(where companies all use USB adapters and not different forms). Other than
that, it did nothing to promote the values theoretically stands for.

And if all this sound naive, mind you, in my country Euro-philes were at a
rate of 95% up until 2007, now it's less than 35%... They don't make gallops
because local politicians are afraid of the results

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dodders
> All these politicians in Brussels are not directly elected.

I don't believe that's correct. Since 1979, every member state has elected
MEPs.

[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html)

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furyg3
When does the roaming charge aboloshment go into effect?

~~~
Mithaldu
From [http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-14-373_en.htm](http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-14-373_en.htm) :

"Today the European Parliament voted to end roaming charges by Christmas 2015"

~~~
Mexxer
This doesn't mean anything yet ... the EU states still have to agree on this
and this will take many more months before a final decision is made.

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atlantic
I don't want to sound ungrateful, but the only reason Euro-politicians have
put so much energy into, first, universal chargers, and now, roaming costs, is
that they are some of the only issues that affect them directly, because of
the extraordinary amount of air travel they do within the EU.

~~~
orf
I'm sure the politicians get their phone bill paid for them.

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sirkneeland
I wonder what will be the unintended consequences of abolishing roaming fees?

One would probably be slower upgrades to 4G, 5G as things cost money and now
carriers will have less for capex.

