REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the outcome of the functioning of Regulation (EC) No 717/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2007 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Community, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 544/2009
Date: 2011-07-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer protection, interactive network, mobile phone, price regulations, single market, transmission network

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 6.7.2011 
COM(2011) 407 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE 
COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE 
COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

on the outcome of the functioning of Regulation (EC) No 717/2007 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2007 on roaming on public mobile 
communications networks within the Community, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 
544/2009 

{SEC(2011) 870 final} 
{SEC(2011) 871 final} 

 
 
 
 
  
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE 
COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE 
COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

on the outcome of the functioning of Regulation (EC) No 717/2007 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2007 on roaming on public mobile 
communications networks within the Community, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 
544/2009 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

2.1. 

2.2. 

2.3. 

2.4. 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

3.3. 

4. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

Background .................................................................................................................. 3 

Current Regulation ....................................................................................................... 4 

Overview of the market................................................................................................ 4 

Developments since the adoption of the Regulation.................................................... 5 

Consultation process .................................................................................................... 5 

Review.......................................................................................................................... 6 

Achievement of objectives........................................................................................... 6 

Introduction of structural measures.............................................................................. 7 

Extension of the Regulation in time and scope............................................................ 9 

Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 10 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The Europe 2020 Strategy1 aims to ensure that Europe is ‘turned into a smart, sustainable and 
inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion’. 
One  of  the  building  blocks  of  this  new  strategy  is  the  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe2  (DAE), 
which defines a number of ‘Key Performance Targets’ for attaining the Digital Single Market. 
In relation to international mobile roaming services, the target is that ‘the difference between 
roaming and national tariffs would approach zero  by  2015’3.  This target will be  achieved if 
competition  in  mobile  markets  gives  consumers  the  rapid  and  easy  choice  of  a  roaming 
service at, or close to, a relevant competitive domestic price level. 

The  need  to  address  roaming  problems  to  make  the  single  market  a  tangible  reality  for 
European  citizens  and  businesses  is  also  reflected  in  the  Single  Market  Act  adopted  by  the 
Commission on 13 April 2011. The Digital Single Market is one of the 'levers' identified in 
the Single Market Act, through which the potential of the single market for growth, jobs and 
citizen's  confidence  can  be  unlocked,  including  when  it  comes  to  mobile  services  across 
Europe. 

Regulation  (EC)  No  717/2007  (amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  544/2009)  on  roaming  on 
public mobile communications networks (hereafter ‘the Regulation’), which entered into force 
in June 2007, will expire on 30 June 2012, unless extended - possibly in a modified form - by 
Parliament  and  Council  on  the  basis  of  a  proposal  from  the  Commission.  The  Regulation 
requires the Commission to review its functioning and report to the European Parliament and 
the Council no later than 30 June 2011. Under Article 11 of the Regulation, the Commission 
is  charged  with  evaluating  whether  the  Regulation  has  achieved  its  objectives,  which  are  to 
ensure  that  consumers  do  not  pay  excessive  prices  for  EU-wide  roaming  services  in 
comparison with competitive national prices, thereby contributing to the smooth functioning 
of  the  internal  market  while  achieving  a  high  level  of  consumer  protection,  fostering 
competition  and  transparency  in  the  market  and  offering  both  incentives  for  innovation  and 
consumer choice. 

This  report  presents  the  results  of  the  Commission’s  review  of  the  functioning  of  the 
Regulation,  explains  the  main  policy  changes  it  proposes  in  order  to  give  effect  to  its 
conclusions  and  is  accompanied  by  a  legislative  proposal  for  the  Regulation  to  be  amended 
accordingly. The details and underlying reasoning can be found in the legislative proposal and 
associated impact assessment. As was the case for the Regulation itself, the legal basis for the 
new proposal is Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (formerly 
Article 95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community). 

1 

2 

3 

See  Communication  from  the  Commission:  Europe  2020  —  A  strategy  for  smart,  sustainable  and 
inclusive growth, COM(2010) 2020, 3.3.2010. 
See  Communication  from  the  Commission:  A  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe,  COM(2010)  245  final/2, 
26.8.2010. 
See Digital Agenda, Annex 2. 

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2. 

BACKGROUND 

2.1. 

Current Regulation 

Because of the particular structure of the roaming market and its cross-border nature, national 
regulatory authorities acknowledged already in 2005 that they did not have suitable tools to 
effectively address the competitive problems underlying the high prices of roaming services 
and  that  divergent  actions  among  Member  States  would  be  ineffective  and  would  harm  the 
establishment and the functioning of the internal market. 

Therefore, in order to manage the issue of high roaming charges in a secure, harmonised and 
timely manner, measures were taken at EU level in the form of a first Regulation on roaming 
on public mobile telephone networks within the European Union (the Roaming Regulation), 
which was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in June 2007. The Roaming 
Regulation  regulates  wholesale  and  retail  voice  roaming  charges  by  setting  price  caps 
(‘Eurotariffs’),  the  levels  of  which  are  decreasing  on  a  yearly  basis.  While  operators  are 
required to offer a Eurotariff, they remain free to provide alternative retail offers for roaming 
services.  

In  July  2009,  a  revised  Regulation  was  adopted,  which  extended  the  validity  of  the  initial 
Regulation and broadened its scope to cover wholesale and retail SMS charges and wholesale 
data  roaming  charges.  It  also  introduced  measures  to  further  improve  transparency.  This 
revised  Regulation  is  valid  until  30  June  2012.  Whereas  the  Regulation  is  established  for  a 
limited time period, it further stipulates that it may, in the light of a review to be carried out 
by the Commission, be extended or amended. 

In the meantime the Commission’s task was to monitor and report to the European Parliament 
and Council on the functioning of the Regulation. An interim report on the functioning of the 
Roaming Regulation was adopted by the Commission in June 20104. 

2.2. 

Overview of the market 

The  EU  market  for  mobile  roaming  services  can  be  divided  into  voice  services,  SMS  and 
broadband data services. In terms of size, in 2009, the retail EU roaming market accounted for 
EUR 4.777 billion in revenues (71 % for voice, 17 % for data and around 11 % for SMS). For 
wholesale  revenues,  figures  differ  only  slightly,  with  respectively  69 %,  15 %  and  16 %  of 
wholesale non-group roaming revenues coming from voice, SMS and data services. The total 
wholesale market size in 2009 amounted to EUR 1.253 billion. 

With  a  total  EU  mobile  market  size  of  about  EUR  164  billion  in  2008,  EU  (retail  and 
wholesale)  roaming  revenues  appear  to  represent  around  3.68 %  of  the  total  EU  mobile 
market. Between 2007 and 2009, revenues for voice roaming fell quite significantly as a result 
of both lower prices and lower volumes of traffic (-3.2 %). For SMS roaming, the impact of 
the  Regulation  can  already  be  clearly  seen  as  total  revenues  in  2009  compared  to  2008 
decreased  significantly  despite  a  large  increase  in  volume  (+23.1 %).  Finally,  for  data 
services,  the  increase  in  volume  of  43.6 %  between  2008  and  2009  combined  with  the 
decrease  in  wholesale  prices,  due  to  the  Regulation,  led  to  an  overall  decrease  in  revenues. 

4 

Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European 
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the interim report on the state of 
development of roaming services within the Community, COM(2010) 356 final, 29.6.2010. 

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However,  at  the  retail  level,  where  no  price  ceilings  were  imposed  for  data  roaming,  total 
revenues in 2009 remained at the same level as in 2008. 

2.3. 

Developments since the adoption of the Regulation 

The Commission has been monitoring developments in the roaming market carefully and in 
its  interim  report5  on  the  functioning  of  the  Regulation  noted  that  competition  was  still  not 
strong  enough.  In  that  report  the  Commission  found  that,  overall,  implementation  of  the 
Roaming Regulation had gone smoothly and operators had complied with the new provisions. 
Consumers are benefiting from reductions in the prices for voice and SMS roaming services 
and from increased transparency and protection against bill shocks. 

However, both average prices for the Eurotariff offered by operators and alternative tariffs are 
clustered around the levels of the regulated caps. The prices for data roaming have also fallen 
but consumers are not yet enjoying fully the reductions seen at wholesale level. Commission 
staff  have  continued  to  work  closely  with  the  Body  of  European  Regulators  for  Electronic 
Communications  (BEREC),  the  successor  of  the  ERG,  which  has  provided  highly  valuable 
input to the Commission’s ongoing monitoring of the Roaming Regulation and to this review 
of the Regulation.  

Article  11  of  the  Roaming  Regulation  specifically  requires  the  Commission,  in  assessing 
methods  other  than  price  regulation  which  could  be  used  to  create  a  competitive  internal 
market  for  roaming,  to  have  regard  to  an  analysis  carried  out  by  BEREC.  To  meet  this 
obligation, in December 2010 BEREC published a full analysis of the effects of the Roaming 
Regulation and its views as to possible future regulatory approaches6.  

In  its  report,  BEREC  considers  that  there  continue  to  be  structural  problems  at  retail  and 
wholesale  levels,  which  dampen  competition  and  tend  to  support  prices  close  to  the  cap. 
BEREC  also  considers  that  the  current  Regulation  needs  to  be  extended  and  some  form  of 
regulation needs to be maintained, since under the current circumstances, there is a risk that 
prices would rise once again if regulation is removed. 

In  addition  to  the  general  data  gathering  exercise  undertaken  by  BEREC  and  referred  to 
above, all NRAs have provided the Commission directly with operator-specific data as part of 
their  general  monitoring  exercise.  These  comprehensive  data  have  enabled  an  economic 
model to be built which provides estimates of the impact of the current Regulation as well as 
the economic impact of the policy options set out in this Report. 

Commission  staff  also  held  numerous  meetings  with  mobile  operators  during  the  review  of 
the Roaming Regulation. A study on the options for addressing competition problems in the 
EU roaming market was conducted on the Commission’s behalf7.  

2.4. 

Consultation process 

The Commission launched a wide-ranging public consultation on 8 December 2010 seeking 
comments on the review of the Roaming Regulation. The response rate was high — around 
90 contributions were received in total.  

5 
6 
7 

See COM(2010) 356 final, 29.6.2010. 
Bor (10) 58 BEREC Report on International Mobile Roaming Regulation. 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/docs/cons11/wik_report_final.pdf. 

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Most  responses  argued  for  the  need  for  further  regulatory  intervention  beyond  2012. 
Responses  from  industry  players  were  mixed  —  most  acknowledged  the  inevitability  of 
further regulation while a few argued that competition had developed to a level that did not 
warrant  future  regulatory  intervention.  Most  respondents  acknowledged  that  the  current 
Regulation  had  succeeded  in  bringing  benefits  for  consumers.  On  the  other  hand,  very  few 
believed that competition was stronger since the entry into force of the Regulation. Industry in 
particular was sceptical of the current model’s ability to foster competition. 

The Commission had put forward a number of options for future approaches to regulation. As 
provided for by the Regulation, these included also methods other than price regulation which 
could be used to create an internal market for roaming, i.e. possible structural solutions to the 
problem  of  lack  of  competition  on  the  roaming  market.  These  alternative  options  were 
assessed  by  stakeholders  but  views  were  quite  divergent.  Some  network  operators  and 
national  authorities  expressed  doubts  on  structural  solutions,  which  were  considered  to  be 
costly,  time  consuming  and  challenging  to  implement.  An  access  obligation  for  Mobile 
Virtual  Network  Operators  (MVNOs)  was  perceived  more  neutrally  and  some  responses 
(from smaller operators) highlighted its potential to promote competition. The continuation of 
the existing price cap model was favoured by most stakeholder groups. 

Most  operators  were  opposed  to  retail  data  roaming  regulation  while  consumers,  Member 
States  and  others  supported  this  approach.  If  such  regulation  were  to  be  proposed,  network 
operators  suggested  a  retail  cap  which  would  allow  flexibility  in  this  new  and  emerging 
market.  Other  stakeholders  (Member  States,  consumer  representatives  and  some  MVNOs) 
argued that the spread between the retail price and the wholesale cap was too big and showed 
that competition had not kicked in. It was widely acknowledged that current technology does 
not offer a viable roaming substitute at this stage. 

3. REVIEW 

In the light of the aims of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Digital Agenda for Europe and 
with reference to the conclusions of the interim report on roaming published in June 2010, the 
objective of this review is to improve the functioning and further promote the development of 
the Digital Single Market with regard to EU-wide roaming services.  

3.1. 

Achievement of objectives 

The  Commission  has  continued  to  monitor  developments  in  the  roaming  market.  Roaming 
price  levels  have  declined  steadily  in  the  last  few  years,  but  this  is  mainly  due  to  the 
regulation of wholesale and retail prices. As also noted in the Commission’s interim report of 
June 20108, for voice and SMS, the extent to which operators offer prices below the levels of 
the  regulated  caps  is  considered  a  key  indicator  of  the  level  of  competition  in  the  market. 
However, average  EU  tariffs remain  in general very close to the price caps set by the 2009 
amending  Regulation,  with 
tariffs. 
Consequently,  roaming  charges  for  European  customers  are  still  high  —  much  higher  than 
those  charged  at  domestic  level  —  and  do  not  reflect  the  underlying  costs  for  providing 

the  sole  exception  of  wholesale  data  roaming 

8 

See COM(2010) 356 final, 29.6.2010. 

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roaming services. Retail charges in particular for data roaming services are sometimes up to 
seven times higher than wholesale charges9.  

Data  roaming  services  are  the  only  services  for  which  tariffs  are  currently  not  regulated  at 
retail  level.  Even  it  has  been  noted  that  tariffs  are  decreasing  at  wholesale  as  well  as  retail 
level  since  the  introduction  of  the  wholesale  cap,  the  decline  in  wholesale  prices  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  passed  through  to  the  retail  level.  Consequently,  the  margins  made  by 
mobile operators are still very high.  

Transparency measures taken so far have been welcomed by consumers and have improved 
their awareness of roaming prices and their ability to check their bills.  

As to the competitive situation of smaller operators, it has been observed that network access 
for the provision of roaming services does not exist at this stage for all operators, in particular 
mobile  virtual  network  operators,  which  do  not  always  have  access  to  commercial 
agreements.  Although  a  few  alternative  processes  have  recently  been  developed,  such  as 
internalisation and localisation10, which might create some competitive pressure on wholesale 
roaming prices, they are not expected to become full roaming substitutes. 

In  conclusion,  at  this  stage  competitive  market  forces  have  not  developed  sufficiently  and 
prices are still clustered at the level of the caps. This lack of competitive pressure is still felt 
both at wholesale and at retail levels, mostly due to the fact that structural problems such as 
barriers  to  market  entry  and  high  switching  costs  that  prevail  in  the  roaming  market  have 
remained unchallenged. Therefore, there is a significant risk that allowing the Regulation to 
expire could lead to an increase in prices. It also demonstrates the need to adopt a different 
regulatory approach. Indeed, the current regulatory approach of price regulation, while having 
delivered  significant  price  reductions  for  consumers  during  the  period  concerned,  has  not 
solved the structural problems in the roaming market and does not therefore provide a lasting 
solution. 

With  regard  to  alternatives  to  roaming,  none  of  the  technologies  currently  available  are 
perceived  by  consumers  as  a  good  substitute  for  roaming.  This  makes  it  very  unlikely  that 
they will have any impact on competitive pressure on roaming prices in the future. 

3.2. 

Introduction of structural measures 

As laid down in Article 11 of the Roaming Regulation, the Commission is required to assess 
methods  other  than  price  regulation  which  could  be  used  to  create  a  competitive  internal 
market  for  international  roaming.  Consequently,  the  Commission  analysed  different  policy 
options and this detailed analysis can be found in the accompanying impact assessment. With 
a  view  to  increasing  the  effectiveness  of  the  roaming  market  dynamics  and  based  on  the 
assessment  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  various  options  put  forward,  the 
Commission proposes introducing the following combination of structural solutions targeted 
at both the demand and the supply sides of the roaming market. 

Measure with likely impact at consumer level (demand side) 

9 
10 

For more details on the calculation, see impact assessment. 
For more details, see impact assessment. 

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The  lack  of  competitive  pressure  on  retail  roaming  prices  can  be  explained  by  a  number  of 
factors.  First  of  all,  operators  have  little  incentive  to  compete  because  roaming  services  are 
generally  offered  as  part  of  a  larger  mobile  bundle  including  domestic  mobile  services  and 
thus cannot be used as a tool to attract new customers. High switching costs and the lack of 
adequate  substitutes  also  hinder  the  development  of  alternative  competitive  offers.  BEREC 
also considers that in the retail market, the focus on competition is on domestic services and 
the current features of the retail market provide little incentive to retail suppliers to compete 
aggressively on roaming offers. Therefore, increasing consumers’ choice and transparency of 
roaming prices would contribute to creating the conditions for more competition at retail level 
to finally emerge. 

The proposal  

1. 

Mandate  the  separate  sale  ('decoupling')  of  roaming  services  in  the  domestic 
market 

The  Commission  proposes  that  consumers  be  allowed  to  opt-out  of  the  default  roaming 
services  offered  by  their  provider  of  domestic  services  and  choose  an  alternative  home 
operator for roaming services only. Each time the customer roams, the retail roaming service 
will automatically switch to this alternative provider. 

It is expected that such a measure will have a positive impact on competition at retail level by 
facilitating  switching  and  increasing  demand  elasticity  by  raising  consumer  awareness  in 
roaming  when  taking  out  subscriptions.  It  will  also  make  for  more  transparency  and  easily 
comparable alternative tariff offers.  

Measure with likely impact on the structure of the market (supply side) 

For the separate sale of roaming services introduced at retail level to be fully effective it needs 
to be combined with an access obligation which will facilitate market entry by existing or new 
players including cross-border roaming service providers, in order to increase the competitive 
dynamics at the retail level.  

The proposal  

2. 

Improve market entry by mandating wholesale roaming access  

The  Commission  proposes  introducing  an  obligation  on  network  operators  to  meet  all 
reasonable requests for wholesale access for the provision of roaming services. 

This  will  facilitate  the  development  of  alternative  mobile  roaming  offers,  in  particular  from 
smaller  operators  and  MVNOs.  MVNOs  will  indeed  be  in  a  position  to  directly  negotiate 
roaming  agreements  with  MNOs  in  other  Member  States  or  to  obtain  regulated  wholesale 
access to roaming services from their host MNOs in the home country.  

Furthermore,  this  will  increase  competitive  pressure  on  the  wholesale  market  and  therefore 
encourage operators to provide wholesale services at the lowest possible price. 

In conjunction with the first structural solution on decoupling proposed above, this measure 
will  also  open  up  new  business  opportunities  for  smaller  operators,  enabling  them  to  offer 

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roaming  services  cross-border,  thereby  also  contributing  to  the  smooth  functioning  of  the 
Digital Single Market. 

3.3. 

Extension of the Regulation in time and scope  

Extension of the Regulation until 2022 

The Commission proposes that the validity of the Regulation be extended by 10 years, up to 
30 June 2022. It is expected that the above-mentioned structural solutions will require time to 
be  implemented  and  produce  effects  on  the  market.  Hence  the  Regulation  provides  for 
transitional price caps to be kept in order to ensure a high level of consumer protection also in 
the interim period before the structural solutions become effective. Retail price caps should in 
principle apply until 30 June 2016. These could, however, be removed sooner if market data 
indicate  that  competition  has  developed  sufficiently.  The  wholesale  price  caps  should  in 
principle  be  maintained  throughout  the  regulatory  period  in  order  to  guarantee  sufficient 
stability  for  new  market  entrants,  also  with  a  possibility  of  being  removed  if  market  data 
indicate sufficient competitive development.. 

The Commission proposes to review the functioning of the Regulation in 2015, i.e. one year 
after the deadline for the full implementation of the structural measures and one year before 
the  foreseen  expiry  of  the  retail  caps.  This  review  will  in  particular  examine  the  impact  of 
those measures on the level of competition in the roaming markets. If the review shows that 
the  structural  measures  provided  for  by  the  Regulation  are  not  sufficient  to  promote 
competition in the roaming markets for the benefit of European consumers, the Commission 
shall make appropriate proposals to the European Parliament and the Council to address this 
situation. The Commission shall examine, in particular, whether it is necessary to modify the 
structural  measures  or  to  extend  the  duration  of  any  of  the  transitory  retail  caps  foreseen. 
After  2015,  an  assessment  of  the  functioning  of  the  regulation,  also  in  the  light  of 
technological developments, will be carried out at regular intervals by the Commission before 
the Regulation expires in 2022. 

Safeguard price cap at retail level up to 2016 and extension to data roaming  

At  retail  level,  the  combination  of  the  structural  measures  should  lead  to  a  sustainable 
competitive  solution  to  the  problem  of  excessive  roaming  prices  without  the  need  for  long-
term price regulation. However, given that these solutions will take time to implement there is 
a  need  to  ensure  continued  consumer  protection  against  excessive  roaming  charges  by 
maintaining transitional safeguard caps for all services at an appropriate level for a period of 
time.  Such  transitional  caps  will  be  set  at  sufficiently  high  levels  in  order  not  to  distort  the 
potential competitive benefits of structural solutions and could be removed completely once 
the  structural  solutions  have  become  effective  in  delivering  benefits  for  consumers  through 
enhanced competition. 

Furthermore,  in  its  review  the  Commission  concluded  that  despite  the  imposition  of  a  price 
cap on wholesale data charges, retail prices are still very high. The reductions at the wholesale 
level on data prices are not passed through to the retail level and, despite all the transparency 
measures  introduced  in  2009,  consumers  continue  to  face  very  high  costs  for  retail  data 
roaming  services.  This  conclusion  is  also  shared  by  BEREC,  which  has  observed  that 
competitive pressure in retail data roaming services is not sufficiently strong to bring prices 
levels  and,  consequently,  recommends  regulatory 
down 
intervention to bring retail data prices down, as was the case for voice and SMS. 

to  reasonable  competitive 

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The proposal  

3. 

Retain a transitional safety net for retail prices up to 30 June 2016, including a 
new retail price cap on data roaming services 

The transitional retail caps will follow a glide path until the structural solutions are in place 
(in 2014), after which the safeguard caps would remain flat for up to a further two years, until 
30 June 2016. The retail caps will be removed thereafter or before if market data indicate that 
competition has developed sufficiently. 

In  the  framework  of  the  review  to  be  carried  out  in  2015,  the  Commission  will  evaluate 
whether  the  proposed  structural  measures  are  sufficient  to  promote  competition  in  the 
roaming  markets.  If  not,  the  Commission  shall  make  appropriate  proposals  to  address  this 
situation. The Commission shall examine, in particular, whether it is necessary to modify the 
structural measures or to extend the duration of any of the transitory retail caps.  

The Commission  is proposing that the retail safeguard caps mechanism be extended to data 
roaming services. For the provision of a regulated roaming data service to which a Euro data 
tariff  applies,  the  home  provider  will  be  required  to  charge  its  roaming  customers  on  a  per 
kilobyte basis (unless the customer opts for a price plan). 

In  addition,  measures  regarding  transparency  and  unitised  billing  will  continue  to  apply  as 
under the current Regulation with some modifications. 

Extension of price caps at wholesale level until 2022 

In  order  to  ensure  a  sustained  level  playing  field,  in  particular  for  new  entrants  in  the 
decoupled roaming market, wholesale caps will have to be maintained for the duration of the 
new Regulation. Since the structural measures will be well established, it would be possible to 
remove these caps before 2022 if market data indicate sufficient competitive development. In 
this  respect,  it  is  important  to  note  that  the  wholesale  market  for  data  roaming  services 
exhibits more dynamism than the corresponding wholesale markets for voice and SMS. 

The proposal  

4. 

Maintain price caps on wholesale charges until 2022 

The price caps on wholesale charges will be retained and will follow a steep decreasing glide 
path  on  a  yearly  basis  up  to  30  June  2015,  after  which  they  will  remain  flat  until  the  new 
Regulation expires in 2022. 

The wholesale price caps could be removed before the new Regulation expires if market data 
indicate that competition has developed sufficiently. 

4. CONCLUSION 

This  review  has  established  that  the  measures  introduced  by  the  Roaming  Regulation  have 
enabled consumers to enjoy significant benefits, in terms of both reduced prices and improved 
transparency over the past years. However, despite these positive results, the dynamics of the 
international  mobile  roaming  market  have  not  changed  sufficiently,  which  demonstrates  the 

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limits of the current model’s ability to foster competition and ensure a lasting solution to the 
roaming problem. 

Furthermore,  as  confirmed  by  BEREC’s  analysis,  market  forces  alone  are  not  expected  to 
deliver significantly lower roaming prices in the years ahead. Hence there is a clear need for 
further regulatory intervention beyond 2012. 

The Commission is proposing that the Regulation be revised by introducing pro-competitive 
structural  measures  and  that  its  validity  be  extended  until  30  June  2022.  The  proposed 
structural  measures  aim  to  tackle  the  root  of  the  problem,  i.e.  the  lack  of  competition  and 
consumer choice that lie at the heart of the issue of high roaming prices. This will be done by, 
on  the  one  hand,  ensuring  that  the  market  is  open  to  different  types  of  providers  (thereby 
increasing roaming offers), while on the other hand raising consumers’ awareness of roaming 
prices  and  increasing  consumers’  choice  by  allowing  them  to  purchase  roaming  also  as  a 
stand-alone service. 

These  measures  are  expected  to  lead  to  a  sustainable  competitive  solution  to  the  roaming 
market problem, since it is considered that the competitive pressure that they promote will be 
sufficient  in  the  future  to  guarantee  low  retail  prices  without  the  need  for  long-term 
regulation. However, these structural solutions will take time to be implemented and deliver 
results, which is why the Commission is proposing that wholesale caps be retained until the 
market  exhibits  sufficient  competition  and  that  safeguard  retail  caps  be  kept  for  a  limited 
period  of  time  in  order  to  ensure  stability  and  predictability  for  operators  and  continued 
consumer  protection.  In  addition,  it  is  proposing  that  the  transitional  retail  price  caps  be 
extended to the provision of retail data roaming services.  

Roaming  markets  display  unique  characteristics  which  justify  exceptional  measures. 
Therefore,  this  intervention  should  be  limited  in  time  so  as  to  expire  on  30  June  2022.  The 
Commission will regularly report to Council and Parliament, taking into account the opinion 
of  BEREC,  on  the  functioning  of  the  Regulation  and,  if  necessary,  will  consider  possible 
amendments  (including  the  possibility  to  extend  the  duration  of  any  of  the  transitory  retail 
caps foreseen). 

It  is  the  Commission’s  intention  to  do  its  utmost  to  assist  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  in  reaching  an  agreement  on  the  above-mentioned  points  in  the  shortest  possible 
timeframe to ensure that European users of mobile communications services can benefit from 
these proposals by 1 July 2012. This is important to meet citizens’ legitimate expectations and 
ensure that the EU continues to deliver concrete results for them. 

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