After several rounds of talks, negotiators from the three EU institutions arrived at a compromise that was supported almost unanimously by the Parliament's Industry Committee on 22 May.
The compromise is a single 15-page amendment, which addresses all the issues debated since the Commission presented its initial proposal. In one of the most hotly contested issues during the negotiations, it was finally agreed that operators would have to lower roaming tariffs for all users, not just for those who have requested it (opt-in vs. opt-out debate), three months after the entry into force of the Regulation.
According to the compromise, roaming tariffs will be lowered in three steps:
- Outgoing calls would be capped at €0.49 cent (€0.24 for incoming calls), immediately after the regulation is published in the Official Journal;
- one year later (2008), the cap would be lowered to €0.46 (€0.22 for incoming calls), and;
- after another year (2009), it would we lowered again to €0.43 (€0.19 for incoming calls).
At the same time, the wholesale rate that network operators charge each other to connect a call would be limited to €0.30 a minute in the first year and lowered to €0.26 in 2009.
However, numerous mobile phone operators across Europe have already introduced special rates for frequent travellers. In many cases, those rates are lower than required by the new EU Regulation.
