REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the review of the roaming market
Date: 2019-11-29
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission
Subjects: consumer protection, price regulations, regulation of telecommunications, roaming, single market, telecommunications policy, telephone charges, transmission network, wholesale trade

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 29.11.2019  COM(2019) 616 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the review of the roaming market {SWD(2019) 416 final}  
 
 
1.  INTRODUCTION  

In October 2015, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2015/21201, 
which mandated the  end of retail  roaming charges in  the Union from  15 June 2017, subject  to 
fair  use  policy  and  a  sustainability  derogation.  These  new  roaming  rules  are  widely  known  as 
"Roam-Like-At-Home" (RLAH).  

For RLAH to be provided in a sustainable manner throughout the Union, the co-legislators have 
agreed to have in place the following measures: 

  substantially reduced wholesale roaming price caps2; 
 

the  possibility  for  operators  to  apply  a  fair  use  policy  to  prevent  abusive  or  anomalous 
use of roaming services at domestic prices; 

  an  exceptional  and  temporary  derogation  system  for  operators  to  forestall  any  risk  of 

domestic price increases. 

In  accordance  with  the  mandate  given  by  the  co-legislators,  the  Commission  adopted,  on  15 
December  2016,  the  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2016/2286  laying  down 
detailed  rules  on  the  application  of  fair  use  policy  and  on  the  methodology  to  be  used  for 
submitting and assessing a request for a sustainability derogation (hereinafter referred to as the 
'Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286')3. 

The above set of rules has been applicable in the EU/EEA4 since 15 June 2017.  

In line with its reporting obligations laid down by the co-legislators in the Roaming Regulation5, 
the Commission: 

1  Regulation  (EU)  2015/2120 of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  25  November  2015  laying  down 
measures concerning open internet access and amending Directive 2002/22/EC on universal service and users' rights 
relating to electronic communications networks and services and Regulation (EU) 531/2012 on roaming on public 
mobile communications networks within the Union.   
2  Introduced  by  Regulation  (EU) 2017/920  of  the  European Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  17 May  2017 
amending Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 as regards rules for wholesale roaming markets. 
3  Commission Implementing  Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 of 15 December 2016 laying down detailed rules on the 
application  of  fair  use  policy  and  on  the  methodology  for  assessing  the  sustainability  of  the  abolition  of  retail 
roaming  surcharges  and  on  the  application  to  be  submitted  by  a  roaming  provider  for  the  purposes  of  that 
assessment. 
4  Decisions  of  the  EEA  Joint  Committee  No  173/2012  (available  here),  92/2016  (available  here)  and  105/2017 
(available  here)  respectively  add  Regulations  531/2012,  2015/2120  and  2017/920  to  Annex  XI  to  the  EEA 
Agreement “Electronic communications, audiovisual services and information society”. 
5  In  this  report,  Regulation  (EU)  531/2012  as  amended  by  Regulation  (EU)  2015/2120  and  Regulation 
(EU) 2017/920 is called the "Roaming Regulation". 

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  adopted  on  12  December  2018  an  interim  Report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council on the implementation of the RLAH rules over the first 18 months (hereinafter 
‘the interim Report’)6; 

  published  on  28  June  2019  a  Staff  Working  Document  (SWD)  on  the  findings  of  the 
review of the rules on fair use policy and the sustainability derogation laid down in the 
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 (hereinafter ‘the SWD on fair use policy and 
the sustainability derogation’)7. 

The  interim  Report  concluded  on  the  overall  success  of  the  RLAH  reform  over  the  first  18 
months,  showing  in  particular  that  the  demand  for  mobile  consumption  while  travelling  in  the 
EU/EEA had rapidly and massively increased since RLAH was introduced. The SWD on fair use 
policy  and  the  sustainability  derogation  concluded  that  these  retail  safeguards,  foreseen  in  the 
Roaming  Regulation  to  avoid  distortions  on  domestic  markets,  had  so  far  worked  adequately 
where needed. 

As  a  follow  up  to  the  interim  Report  and  the  review  of  the  fair  use  policy  and  sustainability 
derogation,  the  Roaming  Regulation  further  mandates  the  Commission  to  submit,  by  15 
December  2019,  a  review  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to  assess  the 
functioning of the roaming market under the RLAH rules. This is the subject of this report. The 
detailed  methodology  and  results  of  the  analysis  in  support  of  this  report  can  be  found  in  the 
accompanying  staff-working  document8.  The  present  report  broadly  confirms  the  findings 
presented in the Commission interim report and in the Commission SWD on fair use policy and 
the  sustainability  derogation:  the  RLAH  reform  has  been  successful  and  met  its  objective  to 
unleash  the  so  far  untapped  roaming  consumption.  The  analysis  shows  that  competition 
dynamics on the wholesale and retail roaming markets have not changed - and are not expected 
to change - to the extent that the roaming rules can be lifted in the coming years. Moreover, there 
are areas for improvement. The Commission should therefore take the necessary steps, including 
legislative  measures,  to  ensure  that  Europeans  continue  to  benefit  from  roaming  without 
surcharges in the coming years and that wholesale markets are working well. 

2.  SCOPE OF THE ROAMING REGULATION AND MAIN PROVISIONS  

Roaming  in  the  meaning  of  the  Roaming  Regulation  is  a  service  that  allows  a  customer  of  a 
Mobile (Virtual) Network Operator (M(V)NO) in one EU/EEA country to have access to mobile 

6 Report on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 531/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 
June  2012  on  roaming  on  public  mobile  communications  networks  within  the  Union,  as  amended  by  Regulation 
(EU) 2015/2120 and Regulation (EU) 2017/920, COM(2018) 822 final, available here. 
7 Commission Staff Working Document on the findings of the review of the rules on roaming fair use policy and the 
sustainability derogation laid down in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 of 15 December 
2016, SWD(2019) 288 final, available here. 
8  Commission  Staff  Wording  Document  on  the  findings  of  the  review  of  the  functioning  of  the  roaming  market, 
SWD(2019) 416 final, 

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services (voice, SMS or data) from an MNO in another EU/EEA country9. The mobile operator 
ensures that its  customers remain connected to a mobile network when travelling abroad while 
using the same mobile handset (or possibly laptop or tablet in case of data roaming) and the same 
phone number. The mobile operator that wants to offer roaming services to its customers ("retail 
roaming  services")  in  another  country  has  to  buy  them  from  an  MNO  located  in  the  visited 
country ("wholesale roaming services"). To this end, commercial wholesale roaming agreements 
between  mobile  operators  have  to  be  concluded.  In  practice,  when  a  customer  places  a  call  or 
uses  mobile  data  while  roaming  abroad,  that  service  is  provided  by  a  mobile  operator  in  the 
visited country. The roaming customer’s home operator has to pay the visited operator for that 
service. This  is  called wholesale roaming charges.  The level  of those charges is  capped by the 
Roaming Regulation and annually decreasing for data (see below in this section). 

Since 15 June 2017, mobile operators have not been allowed to levy any charges in addition to 
the domestic price for the provision of (retail) roaming services (voice, SMS and data) to their 
customers  when  they  periodically  travel  in  the  EU/EEA.  In  order  to  prevent  abusive  or 
anomalous use of roaming services  - such as permanent roaming  - at domestic prices that may 
have detrimental effects on the domestic markets, mobile operators may apply a fair use policy.  

Fair use policy aims in particular at ensuring that roaming at domestic price is used only when 
periodically travelling in the EU/EEA. For this purpose, an operator may ask its customers for a 
proof  of  residence  in,  or  stable  link  with,  the  EU/EEA  country  where  it  provides  services  and 
issues the SIM card to be used at domestic price when travelling abroad. An operator may also 
check that the SIM card is used more in its home Member State than abroad. If such a fair use 
policy is applied and, during a time window of at least four months, the customer has roaming 
consumption prevailing  over domestic  consumption or presence in  other  Member States of the 
Union prevailing over domestic presence, the operator has to alert the customer to verify whether 
there is any abusive or anomalous use of roaming services at domestic prices. After a period of at 
least 14 days from the date of the alert, the operator may apply small roaming surcharges linked 
to the wholesale price caps if the customer continues to consume mobile services abroad. 

In addition, in order to allow for the continuous development of the best data offers on domestic 
markets  (e.g.  unlimited  data),  an  operator  may  apply  a  volume  safeguard  on  roaming  data 
consumed  at  domestic  prices10.  Beyond  that  volume,  the  operator  may  apply  a  small  roaming 

9  A  roaming  service  can  be  provided  domestically  (national  roaming),  i.e.  a  mobile  operator  uses  the  network  of 
another operator to provide mobile services to its customers domestically. However, national roaming is not within 
the scope of the Roaming Regulation. The latter only regulates international roaming in the EU/EEA, i.e. roaming 
on a foreign network within the EU/EEA. 
10 Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 provides that such a volume limit on roaming data must be equal to or 
greater than twice the retail price of the mobile bundle divided by the wholesale roaming price cap. This means that 
the user can consume the double (or more) of the data volume that their operator can buy (with the price paid by the 
user) at wholesale level to the visited operator, if the latter charges at the level of the cap. 

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surcharge not exceeding the wholesale roaming price cap on data11 (see in more detail below in 
this section).  

In  any  event,  even  in  excess  of  fair  use  policy,  the  sum  of  the  domestic  price  plus  the  small 
roaming surcharge applicable may not exceed the roaming fees in place in the first quarter 2016 
(prior to the transitional period that led to RLAH in June 2017)12. 

In  exceptional  and  specific  circumstances,  in  order  to  avoid  a  domestic  price  increase,  an 
operator  may  obtain  from  its  national  regulatory  authority  (NRA)  a  so-called  sustainability 
derogation.  For  this  purpose,  the  operator  must  demonstrate  that  the  provision  of  roaming 
services without the application of a surcharge would not be sustainable with its current domestic 
charging  model13.  In  that  case,  the  NRA  may  authorise  the  operator  to  apply  a  small  roaming 
surcharge  for  one  year.  In  order  to  prolong  such  an  authorisation  the  operator  must  renew  its 
application yearly. 

At  wholesale  level,  the  price  caps  were  substantially  reduced  in  2017  by  the  Roaming 
Regulation14, in particular for data, for which the price caps are programmed to further decline 
every year until 2022, in order to ensure that market players can benefit from wholesale rates that 
allow for the provision of roaming services to their customers without levying any charge on top 
of  the  domestic  price.  The  wholesale  roaming  price  caps  also  ensure  that  wholesale  costs  are 
fully recovered by the operator providing the wholesale roaming service. 

Being established by a Regulation, the roaming rules are directly applicable in all EU Member 
States and also apply in the EEA countries15. The Roaming Regulation entrusts NRAs with the 
task of monitoring, supervising  and enforcing the roaming  rules in  Member States.  In order to 
ensure  a  consistent  approach  of  all  NRAs,  the  Body  of  European  Regulators  in  Electronic 
Communications  (BEREC)  issued  Retail  Roaming  Guidelines16  in  March  2017  and  Wholesale 

11 Exceeding a data volume safeguard can only lead to the imposing of roaming surcharges on data roaming retail 
services (see BEREC Retail Roaming Guidelines, BoR (17) 56, point 70). 
12 For calls received, the maximum retail roaming surcharge applicable in excess of fair use policy is defined as the 
weighted average Mobile Termination Rate across Member States and is therefore revised downwards annually by 
the Commission. It is equal to 0.0085 EUR/min in 2019. 
13  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2016/2286  provides  that  the  NRA  may  consider  that  the  operator’s  domestic 
charging model might not be sustainable without a roaming surcharge in case the operator’s negative roaming retail 
net margin (without roaming surcharge) is equivalent to 3% or more of its mobile services margin.  
14 In 2019, the following wholesale roaming price caps are applicable: 0.032 € /minute for calls made, 0.01 €/sms, 
4.5 €/GB. From 1 January 2020, the new cap for data will be 3.5 €/GB. It will then decrease to 3 €/GB in 2021 and 
2.5 €/GB in 2022. In comparison, those caps were 0.05 €/minute, 0.02 €/sms and 50 €/GB until 15 June 2017. 
15 Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein. The roaming rules have been incorporated in the EEA Agreement since 15 June 
2017, i.e. the same day as their entry into force in the EU. 
16  BEREC  Guidelines  on  Regulation  (EU)  No  531/2012,  as  amended  by  Regulation  (EU)  2015/2120  and  by 
Regulation (EU) 2017/920 (Retail  Roaming Guidelines), BoR(17)56, available here. 

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Roaming  Guidelines17  in  June  2017,  prepared  in  close  collaboration  with  the  Commission  and 
after consulting stakeholders. While not binding in themselves, BEREC Guidelines support the 
NRAs  in  the  monitoring,  supervision  and  enforcement  of  the  new  roaming  rules  in  practice. 
BEREC  Guidelines  also  serve  as  detailed  guidance  for  mobile  operators  on  how  to  implement 
the new roaming rules in their various offers. 

The Roaming Regulation expires on 30 June 2022. 

3.  FUNCTIONING OF THE ROAMING MARKET 

The accompanying staff-working document provides a detailed analysis of the functioning of the 
retail and wholesale roaming markets in the EU/EEA since the entry into force of the ‘roam-like-
at-home’ rules on 15 June 201718. The analysis is based on data collected from mobile operators 
and NRAs as well as inputs from external studies and BEREC. It takes into account BEREC’s 
Opinion  on  the  functioning  of  the  roaming  market  published  on  19  June  2019  (hereinafter 
“BEREC Opinion”)19, as well as BEREC’s Supplementary analysis on wholesale roaming costs 
published on 20 September 201920. 

a.  Compliance with the rules 

In December 2018, the interim Report noted that overall compliance of mobile operators with the 
new  roaming  rules  had  been  observed  from  their  entry  into  force  on  15  June  2017.  General 
compliance has continued in 2019. Where a breach of the rules was detected in a Member State, 
the NRA swiftly solved the issue with the operator concerned, often before starting any formal 
proceedings or in the course of such proceedings.  

Where  new  implementation  questions  arose  in  relation  to  new  types  of  offers  that  were  not 
specifically  addressed  in  the  BEREC  Guidelines,  NRAs  have  coordinated  their  approach  in 
collaboration  with  the  Commission  via  the  dedicated  BEREC  International  Roaming  Expert 
Working  Group.  The  most  prominent  implementation  question  handled  by  the  group  has  been 
how to treat new zero-rated data services21 under RLAH.  The interpretation of the roaming rules 
agreed  in  the  group  and  followed  by  NRAs22  in  such  cases  was  challenged  by  two  operators 
before  two  different  courts  in  Germany.  The  national  courts  confirmed  the  interpretation 

17  BEREC  Guidelines  on  Regulation  (EU)  No  531/2012,  as  amended  by  Regulation  (EU)  2015/2120  and  by 
Regulation (EU) 2017/920 (Wholesale Roaming Guidelines), BoR(17)114, available here. 
18 All facts and figures used in this section are to be found in the accompanying staff-working document. 
19 BEREC Opinion on the functioning of the roaming market as input to EC evaluation, BoR(19)101, available here 
(hereinafter ‘BEREC Opinion’). 
20 BEREC Supplementary analysis on wholesale roaming costs, BoR(19)168, 20 September 2019, available here. 
21 Zero-rated data services are not counted against the data allowance of the subscription. Consuming such services 
therefore does not reduce the volume of data available to the user in a given billing period. In most cases, zero-rated 
services are unlimited. 
22 See decisions by the NRAs BNetzA (Germany) and ANACOM (Portugal). A short summary of this interpretation 
is provided in the SWD on fair use policy and the sustainability derogation (p 12). 

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followed by the NRA23. The Commission supports the proposal made by BEREC in its Opinion 
on  the  roaming  market  to  update  its  Retail  Roaming  Guidelines  as  regards  zero-rated  data 
services, as far as they comply with the Regulation 2015/2120, accordingly.  

b.  Retail roaming market 

The increase in roaming consumption has been rapid and massive 

While successive Roaming Regulations since 2007 had brought tangible benefits to consumers in 
the  form  of  price  reductions  for  voice,  SMS  and  data  roaming  services,  many  Europeans 
continued  to  avoid,  or  curtail,  usage  of  their  mobile  phones  and  data  services  when  travelling 
outside  of  their  home  Member  State  in  order  to  avoid  incurring  mobile  roaming  charges.  The 
RLAH rules have finally allowed to radically change that situation and to unleash the untapped 
demand for mobile consumption among travellers in the EU.  

The end of roaming fees resulted in a rapid and massive increase in roaming consumption in the 
EU/EEA after 15 June 2017 (Figure 1).  In summer 2018 (Q3’18), the use of roaming data in the 
EU/EEA  was  12  times  higher  than  in  the  last  summer  before  RLAH  (Q3’16).  The  volume  of 
roaming  phone  calls  was  3  times  higher.  In  the  first  quarter  of  2019  (last  data  available)  the 
increase compared to the same period before RLAH (Q1’17) was by a factor 9 for data and 2.2 
for  voice.  In  summer  2018,  travellers  used  on  average  440  MB  of  roaming  data  per  month, 
compared to 60 MB in summer 201624.  

Figure 1: EEA retail roaming data traffic, Q2 2016 – Q1 2019 (millions of GB) 

23 The Verwaltungsgericht Köln on 20 November 2018 (see the judgement here) and Landgericht Düsseldorf on 19 
June 2019 (see the judgement here)  
24  The  increase  in  total  roaming  data  volumes  in  the  EEA  results  from  larger  average  consumption  by  roaming 
customers but also from more travelers switching on data roaming. 

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Source: Based on 23rd International Roaming BEREC Benchmark Data Report BoR(19)90, October 2018-March 
2019  

The overall domestic tariff structure remains largely unchanged  

As noted by BEREC in its Opinion on the roaming market, operators report having maintained 
the overall availability of their tariff plans under RLAH25. According to BEREC, no significant 
changes  occurred  to  the  overall  structure  of  the  domestic  tariff  plans.  Tariff  plans  which  have 
been removed are mainly legacy tariff plans, as happens on a regular basis. Altogether, RLAH is 
considered to have had almost no impact on the availability of the domestic offers. 

The observation made in the interim Report that the use of domestic-only tariff plans26 remains 
limited  and  mostly  in  the  pre-paid  segment  of  the  market  serving  local  communication  needs 
remains  valid.  In  Q1  2019,  under  5%  of  all  subscribers  in  the  EU/EEA  used  a  domestic-only 
tariff plan27, a stable share over time.  

Quality of service 

The quality of mobile services, and in particular the data speed, provided to travellers abroad is 
an  essential  parameter  of  the  roaming  experience.  While  there  is  no  particular  evidence  that 
roaming  users  get  lower  data  speed  than  local  users  28,  BEREC’s  Opinion  notes  the  lack  of 
transparency  of  a  number  of  operators  as  regards  the  data  speed  provided  to  their  customers 
while  they  roam  abroad.  Such  data  speed  does  not  depend  entirely  on  the  home  operator;  it 
largely  depends  on  the  quality  of  service  provided  by  the  visited  network.  However,  as  4G 
technology is now covering almost all of the Union's territory, 4G can normally be expected to 
be provided while roaming.  

The Commission  shares  BEREC's view that operators may not  deliberately  provide lower data 
speed to their customers while roaming than at home. The Commission considers the quality of 
service as an integral part of the product whose price is regulated. By paying a certain price, the 
user  has  access  to  a  given  mobile  service  domestically.  The  Roaming  Regulation  requires  that 
the user have access to  the same service  abroad  in  the EU/EEA for the same price,  as  long  as 
such service can be delivered on the visited network. 

The Commission will consider introducing the relevant clarifications in the Roaming Regulation, 
as  well  as  transparency  obligations  on  the  quality  of  service  while  roaming.  The  Commission 
also supports BEREC's proposal to further monitor the quality of roaming services.  

25 Joint Commission/BEREC survey of mobile operators, March 2019 
26 Tariff plans that provide mobile services only in the country of purchase of that offer. 
27  23rd  International  Roaming  BEREC  Benchmark  Data  Report  BoR(19)90.    Member  States  with  the  highest 
proportion of domestic-only subscribers (more than 10%) are Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Bulgaria. 
28 According to the joint Commission/BEREC survey of March 2019, the number of complaints regarding roaming 
has not increased in most Member States following the introduction of RLAH and end-users’ dissatisfaction with the 
quality of services while roaming ranks low among the consumer complaints received by NRAs. 

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Overall, MVNOs seem to maintain their position on the market 

In most of the countries for which sufficient data is available, MVNOs have broadly maintained 
or slightly increased their domestic market share (in subscriber numbers). One also observes an 
overall stability of the average retail revenue per user of the few MVNOs that have provided the 
necessary  data  over  time.  However,  representing  the  situation  of  MVNOs  throughout  the  EU 
remains a challenge due to the small sample of MVNOs that have consistently provided relevant 
data over time.  

Fair use policy is useful to address individual abuses  

As shown in the SWD on fair use policy and the sustainability derogation, the vast majority of 
operators have applied a fair use policy (95% of MNOs and 78% of MVNOs) in order to prevent 
abusive or anomalous use of roaming services at domestic prices. The volume limit on open data 
bundles29  is  the  most  implemented  fair  use  policy  measure  by  operators  (84%  of  mobile 
operators offering such bundles use it). The almost unanimous use of this safeguard may indicate 
that it has indeed contributed to the continued availability of the most competitive data bundles 
on domestic markets. 

However,  because  fair  use  policy  rules  cover  the  needs  of  virtually  all  roaming  users,  the 
proportion  of  customers  who  actually  exceed  the  limits  of  any  fair  use  policy  remains  very 
limited:  only  0.6%  of  the  subscribers  of  MNOs  having  implemented  the  4-month  control 
mechanism  have  received  an  alert  and  only  half  of  these  have  been  subjected  to  the  small 
roaming surcharge after the alert. In total, only 4% (resp. 5%) of the total roaming voice (resp. 
data) traffic in the EU/EEA was subject to a small roaming surcharge in excess of fair use policy 
in  Q1  201930.  In  practice  therefore,  only  an  extremely  small  minority  of  the  most  intensive 
roaming  users  are  affected  in  practice  by  the  application  of  a  fair  use  policy,  while  the 
overwhelming majority of users do not need to worry about it. 

The derogation mechanism is acting as an effective safeguard against possible distortions on the 
few domestic markets where such a risk had been identified 

Mobile  operators  that  have  demonstrated  that  they  are  not  able  to  recover  their  actual  and 
projected costs of providing regulated roaming services without increasing their domestic prices 
in  order  to  provide  RLAH  have  been  granted  a  sustainability  derogation  by  their  NRA.  This 
happened in cases that were expected, i.e. a few MVNOs in some Member States and MNOs in 
very low-data-price Member States with high roaming imbalances and/or low revenue per user 
(Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland). The derogations granted are strictly in order to permit the 
operators in question to recover their costs of providing roaming services to their customers and 
avoid  any domestic price increase. The sustainability mechanism has therefore been  applied as 

29 See footnote 10 
30 23rd International Roaming BEREC Benchmark Data Report BoR(19)90   

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intended  by  the  co-legislators  and  adequately  worked  where  needed  as  a  safeguard  to  avoid 
distortions, in particular increases in prices, on domestic markets. In Q1 2019, only 1.3% (resp. 
3.1%) of the total EU/EEA retail roaming data (resp. voice) traffic was subject to a surcharge due 
to the derogation31.  

Furthermore,  as  expected  the  number  of  derogations  has  been  decreasing  over  time  with  the 
regulated decline in maximum wholesale roaming prices: in June 2019, none of the 3 MNOs in 
Estonia  asked  for  renewal  of  the  derogation;  1  out  of  3  MNOs  in  Lithuania  did  not  renew  its 
application either, and only 3 MVNOs renewed their applications in France compared to 11 in 
2017.  In  its  Opinion  on  the  roaming  market,  BEREC  notes  that  the  derogation  mechanism 
concerns  a  small  and  shrinking  part  of  the  market  and  that  NRAs  expect  the  number  of 
derogations to further decrease in the coming years.  

Finally, as noted in the SWD on fair use policy and the sustainability derogation, operators that 
have  been  granted  the  derogation  have  been  using  it  with  parsimony:  many  of  them  still  offer 
large  volumes  of  roaming  services  without  surcharges  to  their  subscribers  in  order  to  remain 
competitive  on  their  domestic  market.  Where  they  apply  the  allowed  roaming  surcharge,  the 
latter is  drastically reduced compared to  before 15 June 2017 (by more than 90% for data), so 
that the concerned customers do substantially benefit from a massive decrease in roaming prices 
even in such cases. 

Roaming prices in non-EU/EEA countries have continued to decline on average 

Retail roaming prices of EU/EEA mobile operators in non-EU/EEA countries have continued to 
decline.  Between  Q1  2017  and  Q1  2019,  rates  for  data  roaming  services  in  non-EU/EEA 
countries fell by 8% while rates for voice services fell by more than 30%32. The sharp declining 
trend  for  data  roaming  prices  in  non-EU/EEA  countries  has  therefore  continued  after  the 
introduction of RLAH. Overall therefore, the abolition of intra-EU/EEA roaming charges has not 
come at the price of higher roaming prices in the rest of the world33. 

Consumer satisfaction is high 

The  interim  Report  noted  that  the  RLAH  reform  was  widely  recognised  and  appreciated  by 
Europeans. One year after the introduction of RLAH, a Eurobarometer survey showed that 81% 
of  travellers  were  aware  that  roaming  charges  had  ended  in  the  EU/EEA  and  69%  of  all 
Europeans  thought  that  they,  or  someone  they  know,  benefit  or  will  benefit.  The  feedback 
received  by  the  Commission  from  consumer  associations  since  June  2017  is  overall  very 
positive.  

31 23rd International Roaming BEREC Benchmark Data Report BoR(19)90 
32 Ibid. 
33  This  overall  evolution  is  an  average.  It  does  not  exclude  punctual  increases  in  roaming  prices  in  some  non-
EU/EEA countries in some tariff plans in some Member States. This may be the case in particular for less visited 
non-EU/EEA destination countries. 

9 

 
 
                                                 
c.  Wholesale roaming market 

The observations made in the interim Report one year ago are confirmed. The impact of the large 
increases in roaming demand highlighted in section 3.b above vary markedly between operators 
depending on the traffic flows of the given operator’s customer base. Based on its traffic flows, 
an operator can be classified as outbounder or inbounder. An outbounder operator has a customer 
base which consumes more mobile services abroad (i.e. on the networks of partner operators in 
other  EU  countries),  than  those  consumed  by  the  partner  operators’  customer  base  on  its  own 
network.  Conversely,  an  inbounder  operator  has  a  customer  base  that  consumes  less  mobile 
services abroad than those consumed by the partner operators' customer base on its own network. 
Due to tourist flows, typically, operators in Northern European countries are net outbounders of 
roaming  traffic,  whereas  operators  in  Southern  European  countries  are  typically  inbounders  of 
roaming traffic, although there are some exceptions. 

In this context,  the level of the  wholesale roaming price caps is an  essential  component of the 
Roaming Regulation. The dual objective of the caps is to enable all, or virtually all, operators in 
the  Union  to  provide  RLAH  while  at  the  same  time  ensuring  cost  recovery  at  wholesale  level 
throughout the Union. 

Regulation  has  triggered  considerable  reductions  in  wholesale  prices  that  have  benefited  net 
outbounder operators 

The  sharp  decline  in  wholesale  roaming  prices  observed  in  the  interim  Report  has  further 
continued,  in  particular  for  data  services.  The  average  wholesale  roaming  price  for  data  went 
down  to  €1.78  /GB  in  Q1  2019,  compared  to  €8.22  /GB  in  Q1  2017.  For  voice,  the  average 
wholesale roaming price was €1.97 cents/min in Q1 2019, compared to  €2.90 cents/min in  Q1 
201734. 

The decline in wholesale roaming prices was determined mainly by two factors. First, new (and, 
for  data,  annually  decreasing)  maximum  wholesale  roaming  prices  laid  down  in  the  Roaming 
Regulation in 2017 have acted as much lower ceilings on prices35, triggering competitive market 
dynamics  between  operators  offering  wholesale  roaming  access  below  those  ceilings.  Second, 
the  introduction  of  RLAH  has  resulted  in  significant  increases  in  roaming  volumes,  thereby 
fuelling further competition in wholesale roaming prices below the ceilings. Substantially lower 
wholesale  roaming  prices  have  greatly  mitigated  any  potential  impact  from  the  introduction  of 
RLAH on outbounder operators.  

Net inbounder operators have benefited from increased roaming demand 

34 23rd International Roaming BEREC Benchmark Data Report BoR(19)90, October 2019 
35 The wholesale roaming price cap for voice was reduced from 5 cents/min in 2016 to 3.2 cents/min as of 15 June 
2017. For data  it  was reduced from 50 EUR/GB in 2016 to 7.7 EUR/GB as of 15 June 2017, 6 EUR/GB as of 1 
January 2018, 4.5 EUR/GB as of 1 January 2019.  

10 

 
 
                                                 
The  analysis  provided  in  the  accompanying  staffworking  document  shows  that  inbounder 
operators have benefited from the large increase in demand for wholesale roaming services and 
that,  for  outbounder  operators,  the  net  outbound  roaming  traffic  -  despite  the  considerable 
increase under RLAH - only represents a small fraction (typically less than 5%) of their domestic 
traffic. 

Costs of provision of wholesale roaming are covered  

As  one  of  several  inputs  to  the  present  roaming  review,  the  Commission  commissioned  an 
external study to build a cost model of an efficiently operating mobile network in each Member 
State plus Norway36. The estimates that can be inferred from the cost model and from additional 
transit price data provided by operators37 show that the caps on wholesale roaming prices set in 
the  Roaming  Regulation  in  2017  have  allowed  a  full  recovery  of  costs  at  wholesale  level  plus 
margin. 

The  sharp  reduction  in  wholesale  roaming  prices  observed  above,  whereby  average  wholesale 
market prices have continued to undershoot the declining regulated maximum wholesale tariffs, 
is persuasive evidence that operators have been able to meet the increasing demand in wholesale 
roaming  services  while  at  the  same  time  recovering  the  cost  of  their  network  investments, 
including the cost of capital. The information gathered from the Commission on wholesale prices 
for domestic MVNO access  is  further evidence that the current  caps allow operators providing 
wholesale roaming services to cover their costs.  

Based on the Commission’s external study, BEREC made its own assessment  of the wholesale 
roaming  cost38.  BEREC  concludes  that  there  is  some  room  for  further  reducing  the  wholesale 
caps while keeping them above the underlying costs in all Member States including some space 
for negotiations below the caps. 

The Commission shall take these and other inputs into account in considering whether there is a 
need, and economic scope, for further adapting the wholesale roaming price caps going forward, 
while keeping the caps above underlying costs in all Member States. 

The specific situation of mobile virtual  network operators  (MVNOs) on the wholesale roaming 
market 

An  MVNO  does  not  own  a  radio  access  network  in  the  country(ies)  where  it  operates.  As  a 
consequence, an MVNO cannot host any roaming traffic from an MNO in return for the roaming 

36  Study  SMART  2017/0091  'Assessment  of  the  cost  of  providing  mobile  telecom  services  in  the  EU/EEA'  by 
AXON, July 2019, available here. Luxembourg, Iceland and Liechtenstein have not provided the necessary data to 
build the model in these three countries. The study was executed in close collaboration with NRAs and BEREC. The 
full set of materials published from this study is available here 
37  The  cost  model  and  its  outputs,  as  well  as  estimates  of  transit  prices,  are  presented  in  the  accompanying 
staffworking document. 
38 BEREC supplementary analysis on wholesale roaming costs, BoR(19)168, September 2019 

11 

 
 
                                                 
traffic  that  the  MVNO  sends  out  to  that  foreign  MNO.  An  MVNO  can  typically  only  buy  at 
wholesale  level  the  outbound  roaming  traffic  generated  by  its  customers  abroad,  without  the 
possibility  to  trade/exchange  (part  of)  this  outbound  roaming  traffic  against  inbound  roaming 
traffic. MVNOs are therefore in a structurally different situation from MNOs when negotiating 
wholesale roaming  access39.  This  factor is  inherent to  MVNOs’ business  models.  On the other 
hand, MVNOs should be able to invoke the roaming wholesale traffic that their retail customers 
generate when negotiating with  their domestic host, as it should  help  the latter to  obtain better 
rates with wholesale roaming providers. Nonetheless, MVNOs typically pay wholesale roaming 
prices that are higher than those paid by MNOs, and in a number of cases close to or at the level 
of  the  wholesale  roaming  price  caps.  However,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  staff-working 
document, there are also examples of MVNOs that pay wholesale roaming prices well below the 
regulated tariffs in most EU countries, at similar levels to those paid by MNOs. 

MVNOs have in all cases benefited from the considerable reduction in wholesale roaming prices 
triggered by the sharp lowering of the price caps decided in 2017. As indicated above in section 
3.b,  MVNOs  have  overall  maintained  their  position  in  their  respective  domestic  markets.  The 
Commission  will  take  into  account  the  situation  of  MVNOs  when  considering  whether  to 
propose  a  further  adaptation  of  wholesale  roaming  price  caps,  in  line  with  the  main 
recommendation from BEREC in its Opinion on the roaming market.  

In addition, the Commission, in line with BEREC's suggestions, will consider proposing further 
clarifications  on  wholesale  rules  that  should  support  the  position  of  MVNOs  in  wholesale 
roaming  negotiations  for  example  that  the  price  cap  is  also  applicable  to  alternative  wholesale 
roaming  solutions  like  sponsored  roaming40,  that  MNOs  must  give  access  to  new  technology 
generations (e.g. 4G, 5G) to MVNOs for roaming as they become available in visited markets or 
that the contract negotiations should not be unduly prolonged and the wholesale roaming access 
to be granted within 3 months of the conclusion of the contract under the current rules should be 
fully, not partly, operational. 

The separate sale of data roaming services has not been used by the market 

Since  2012,  the  Roaming  Regulation  has  provided  that  end-users  may  not  be  prevented  by 
operators  from  accessing  regulated  data  roaming  services  on  a  visited  network  offered  by  an 

39  MVNOs  establish  wholesale  roaming  access  agreements  mostly  indirectly  (via  the  MNO  hosting  them  in  their 
country of operation or another MNO or a hub) but also directly in some cases (direct bilateral wholesale roaming 
negotiations with MNOs). 
40 Sponsored roaming is a wholesale solution where the MVNO uses a dual IMSI solution, where one IMSI range 
belongs  to  the  sponsored  network.  The  International  Mobile  Subscriber  Identity  (IMSI)  is  an  ITU  international 
standard. It is a unique number that identifies a mobile subscriber, as well as its mobile operator and country. The 
effect of this dual IMSI solution is that the MVNO’s end users have a second identity while roaming and they can 
make  use of all the roaming agreements belonging to the sponsor network. Traffic prices are set by the sponsored 
network.   

12 

 
 
                                                 
alternative  roaming  provider41.  This  structural  measure,  known  as  local  data  break-out,  was 
meant to foster competition on the roaming market. The Commission shares the observation by 
BEREC and by an external study on technological developments42 that this solution has not been 
deployed in practice43. Looking forward, based on surveys of the market conducted in 2019 for 
the purpose of this review, both BEREC and the study note the lack of interest by market players 
in  implementing  such  a  solution  in  the  future.  Consequently,  the  Commission  will  consider 
proposing to remove the local data breakout obligations from the Roaming Regulation. 

d.  Competition dynamics on the wholesale and retail roaming markets have not 
changed - and are not expected to change - to the extent that regulation can 
be lifted in the coming years 

Similarly to the pre-RLAH period, under RLAH the regulated price caps have been necessary to 
bring  prices  down  on  the  wholesale  roaming  market.  The  price  caps  have  continued  to  act  as 
benchmark prices in wholesale roaming negotiations and for competitive dynamics below these 
ceilings. Any discount on the wholesale roaming market is made from these reference prices. In 
addition, parts of the market, in particular some MVNOs and smaller operators operating in one 
country and with large outbound roaming imbalances, often pay wholesale roaming prices at, or 
close to, the cap level. 

BEREC recognizes that “the overall objective of the RLAH regulation has been a success”; at the 
same time, it “does not expect that the competitive conditions in the roaming market will change 
in  the near future in  a  way that a regulatory intervention is  not  required anymore”44. BEREC 
recommends that, until a new assessment of the roaming market can be made, the roaming rules 
should remain in their current shape and structure.  Based on its review of the functioning of the 
wholesale roaming market, BEREC concludes that wholesale roaming price caps continue to be 
necessary  and  need  to  be  further  reduced,  in  order  to  ensure  a  proper  functioning  of  RLAH 
throughout  the  EU  and  for  all  market  players  going  forward.  In  addition,  it  considers  that  the 
retail roaming rules in place since 15 June 2017 should overall continue to apply over the coming 
years, albeit with some possible clarifications and improvement, in order to ensure that end users 
continue to benefit from RLAH throughout the EU45.  

41  Article  4  in  Regulation  (EU)  No  531/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  13  June  2012  on 
roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union 
42  Study  SMART    2018/0012  "Technological  developments  and  roaming"  by  WIK  Consult,  July  2019,  available 
here 
43 In 2016, the BEREC International  Roaming Benchmark Report identified only one operator offering local data 
breakout services in the EU. It seems however that this operator from Lithuania (Cheap Data Communications) does 
not  exist  anymore,  at  least  not  in  its  original  form.  Since  then,  according  to  the  information  available  to  the 
Commission, there has been no further use of the local data breakout solution. 
44 BEREC supplementary analysis on wholesale roaming costs, BoR(2019)168, September 2019 
45  BEREC  comments  on  the  retail  roaming  rules  have  been  analyzed  in  the  SWD  on  fair  use  policy  and  the 
sustainability derogation published in June 2019. These comments do not put in question the principle of those rules 
nor their continued application in the years to come. 

13 

 
 
                                                 
Looking forward as well, an external study commissioned by the Commission46 for the purpose 
of  this  review  has  examined  the  possible  impact  of  relevant  technological  and  business 
developments on competition in the roaming markets, at both wholesale and retail levels47. The 
study concludes that there is no case for significant changes to the retail and wholesale roaming 
rules  under  this  review  (without  prejudice  to  any  review  of  maximum  wholesale  rates). 
According  to  the  study,  at  this  stage,  none  of  the  current  and  foreseeable  technological  and 
business  developments  can  be  anticipated  to  modify,  in  the  next  few  years,  the  competition 
conditions  at  wholesale  and  retail  levels  to  such  an  extent  that  RLAH  would  continue  to  be 
provided by operators in the absence of the roaming rules. 

The study however recommends to continue monitoring the deployment of embedded SIM cards 
and  the  evolution  in  over-the-top  voice  and  messaging  services  with  a  view  to  assessing  their 
impact on competition in retail roaming markets in the medium term. Developments in 5G and 
IP-based  mobile  communications  in  the  coming  years  could  also  affect  the  nature,  variety  and 
pricing  of  wholesale  roaming  products  going  forward.  Such  developments  will  have  to  be 
considered in a future review of the Roaming Regulation. 

The  Commission  also  takes  note  of  the  very  recent  development  of  new  ways  of  trading 
wholesale roaming traffic, such as online trading platforms, mentioned in the study. They have 
the potential to foster competition on the wholesale roaming market and facilitate the negotiation 
process  between  operators.  As  such  platforms  are  now  becoming  operational,  the  Commission 
encourages  operators  to  start  trading  part  of  their  capacity  via  that  channel,  subject  to  full 
compliance  with  EU  law.  The  Commission  will  closely  monitor  the  related  developments  in 
order to determine whether the use of such platforms could justify over time a different approach 
to wholesale roaming regulation. 

For  the  shorter  term  of  this  review,  the  study  and  BEREC  echo  feedback  received  by  some 
market  players  asking  for  more  explicit  rules  or  guidelines  governing  access  requests  for 
permanent roaming for the purposes of connectivity for machine-to-machine/Internet of Things. 
The Commission notes that, while the Roaming Regulation was designed for the benefit of end-
users using their mobile device while periodically traveling abroad in the EU/EEA, it does not 
exclude  machine-to-machine  communications  from  its  scope48.  Wholesale  roaming  access 
obligations laid down in Article 3 of the Roaming Regulation therefore also apply in case such 
access  is  sought  for  the  purposes  of  machine-to-machine  communications.  As  to  permanent 
roaming,  it  is  not  prohibited  as  such  by  the  Roaming  Regulation  and  can  be  agreed  by  two 

46 Study SMART 018/0012 "Technological developments and roaming" by WIK Consult, July 2019, available here. 
47 The study analyzed the potential impact on the roaming market of Wi-fi and Wi-fi aggregation services, over-the-
top  services,  Rich  Communication  Services  (RCS),  embedded  SIM  cards  provisionable  over-the-air,  5G  and  5G 
network slices, internet of things (IoT), local data break-out, new business models and players entering the roaming 
market  (such  as  multi-MVNO  agreements  and  cross-border  MVNOs,  entry  of  equipment,  content  and  service 
providers into the roaming market) 
48 Except from specific provisions in Article 15 of the Roaming Regulation (transparency obligations). 

14 

 
 
                                                 
roaming partners in the wholesale roaming contract49. According to information available to the 
Commission,  operators  often  have  an  interest  to  host  machine-to-machine  communications 
traffic  on  their  networks,  including  on  a  permanent  basis,  in  order  to  benefit  from  the  related 
wholesale  revenues.  The  relevance  of  volume-based  maximum  wholesale  charges  for  low-
volume, narrow-band machine-to-machine communications requires further attention. In order to 
facilitate  the  development  of  pan-European  machine-to-machine  services  in  particular,  the 
European Electronic Communications Code provides that Member States shall ensure that NRAs 
make  available  numbers  that  may  be  used  on  a  permanent  basis  outside  of  the  Member  State 
(known as  “extra-territorial  use of numbers”)50. The Commission  will consider introducing the 
relevant clarifications regarding the wholesale access conditions for permanent roaming for the 
purposes  of  connectivity  for  machine-to-machine/Internet  of  Things  where  necessary  in  the 
Roaming Regulation.  

4.  CONCLUSION 

As  noted  in  the  Commission's  contribution  to  the  informal  EU27  leaders'  meeting  in  Sibiu 
(Romania) on 9 May 2019, Roam-Like-at-Home counts as one of the top-20 EU achievements 
during  the  Juncker  Commission  mandate.  The  rapid  and  massive  increase  in  roaming  traffic 
since  June  2017  has  shown  that  the  RLAH  reform  has  met  its  objective  of  unleashing  the 
untapped  demand  for  mobile  consumption  by  travellers  in  the  EU.  This  review  confirms  the 
success  of  the  reform  and  the  overall  good  functioning  of  the  roaming  market  under  the  new 
rules. 

The  review  shows  that,  despite  signs  of  some  competition  dynamics  on  both  the  retail  and 
wholesale roaming markets, the underlying basic competition conditions have not changed, and 
are  not  likely  to  change  in  the  foreseeable  future,  to  such  an  extent  that  retail  or  wholesale 
regulation  of  the  roaming  market  could  be  lifted.  BEREC  recommends  further  lowering  the 
wholesale roaming price caps “in order to increase the competitive strength for MVNOs in the 
years  to  come“  and  assesses  that  there  is  room  to  do  so.  While  there  is  some  evidence  of 
economic space between the wholesale price caps currently programmed until 2022 and the level 
of costs of all operators, the case for further reductions in order for the RLAH regime to function 
better while maintaining domestic competitive dynamics needs to be further analysed. 

In view of the above analysis, further detailed in the accompanying staffworking document, the 
Commission intends to conduct an impact assessment in the first semester of 2020 on whether to 

49 While the wholesale level measures provided in Article 3 of the Roaming Regulation to enable a visited operator 
to prevent permanent roaming are intended to be useful in the case of personal communications of travelers, such 
measures  may  also  be  used  in  the  case  of  machine-to-machine  communications.  It  is  however  expected  that,  in 
general,  visited  operators  have  no  interest  to  prevent  permanent  roaming  in  the  case  of  machine-to-machine 
communications. 
50  Article  93(4)  of  the  European  Electronic  Communications  Code,  Directive  (EU)  2018/1972  of  the  European 
Parliament and the Council, OJ 2018 L 321, p. 36. The Code is to be transposed in national legislation by Member 
States by 21 December 2020 and applied from that date. 

15 

 
 
                                                 
table a legislative proposal to the European Parliament and the Council prolonging the Roaming 
Regulation beyond June 2022. The Commission will consider in particular the extension of the 
retail and wholesale roaming rules beyond 30 June 2022, and in this context will further examine 
the  adequacy  of  the  wholesale  roaming  price  caps.  In  view  of  the  adequate  functioning  of  the 
safeguard  rules  at  retail  level  (fair  use  policy  and  sustainability  derogation),  the  Commission 
does not intend at this stage to amend the rules laid down in the Implementing Regulation (EU) 
2016/2286. 

To  prepare  the  impact  assessment  on  a  possible  legislative  proposal,  the  Commission  will 
organise a public consultation in early 2020. The preparatory work for an impact assessment will 
also  further  assess  the  opportunity  of  introducing  in  the  Roaming  Regulation  the  various 
clarifications  and  updates  on  the  quality  of  service,  MVNOs’  access,  separate  sale  of  roaming 
data services, and machine-to-machine communications mentioned in this report. 

16