COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT Accompanying the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (recast)
Date: 2021-02-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission
Subjects: consumer protection, cross-frontier data flow, mobile phone, price regulations, regulation of telecommunications, retail trade, roaming, telephone charges, transmission network, wholesale trade

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 24.2.2021  SWD(2021) 27 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT  Accompanying the  Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (recast) {COM(2021) 85 final} - {SEC(2021) 90 final} - {SWD(2021) 28 final} - {SWD(2021) 29 final}  
 
 
Executive Summary Sheet  

Impact assessment on the review and extension of the Roaming Regulation (recast)  

A. Need for action 

What is the problem and why is it a problem at EU level?  

Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 expires on 30 June 2022. Without an extension of roaming rules, the benefits of 
‘roam  like  at  home’  (RLAH)  may  be  lost  for  consumers  and  businesses,  and  additional  barriers  could  limit  the 
seamless use of mobile services and innovative applications while travelling in the single market of the EU/EEA. 
Almost 170 million European roaming customers currently enjoy RLAH and the benefits of staying connected 
like at home while travelling in the EU/EEA.  

The 2019 Commission review report identified the problems that this initiative aims to address. The analysis builds 
on a broad range of data and feedback from stakeholders used to evaluate how this regulation has performed  and 
how  the  roaming  market  functions  according  to  the  existing  EU  rules  on  roaming.  The  main  problems  are 
summarised below: 

A.  RLAH  cannot  be  sustained  without  regulated  wholesale  charges  or  regulated retail  roaming  services  due  to 

insufficient competition dynamics (market failure).  

B.  Consumers do not always know what level of service to expect (quality of service) or how calls to value added 
services are charged when roaming (higher charges). The quality of service offered is sometimes lower than that 
at  home,  even  if  the  equivalent  level  is  available.  Access,  free  of  charge,  to  emergency  services  through 
alternative means and the provision of caller location information are not always ensured, especially for end-
users with disabilities. 

C.  Roaming  providers  sometimes  have  problems  in  getting  wholesale  roaming  access  to  requested  networks. 
Because  there  is  also  a  lack  of  transparency  regarding  calls  to  value  added  services  roaming  providers  are 
unable to identify the relevant numbering ranges and, as a result, may incur unexpected costs. The current EU 
rules on roaming might not be sufficiently suited to enable innovation and address technological and business 
changes. 

What should be achieved? 

The initiative aims to achieve the following: 

A) Ensure that RLAH is sustainable for operators and that they can recover the cost of providing roaming 
services at wholesale level, preserving incentives to invest in visited networks and avoiding distortion of domestic 
competition in visited markets.  

B)  Achieve  a  genuine  RLAH  experience  for  roaming  customers  and  give  end-users  the  confidence  to  stay 
connected when travelling within the EU. Consumers and business end-users should benefit from the same quality 
of services while roaming as at home, be able to use innovative services and benefit from increased transparency to 
avoid bill-shocks from using value added services. Equivalent access to emergency services for all should also be 
ensured, in the same way as at home.  

C) Facilitate innovation, ensure wholesale roaming access to requested network technologies and help operators to 
avoid losses linked to value added services. The initiative also aims to simplify things and reduce the burden for 
operators and other stakeholders. 

What is the value added of action at EU level (subsidiarity)? 

In  the  international  roaming  market,  action  at  EU  level  is  needed  to  improve  the  single  market  for  electronic 
communications.  As  observed  in  a  landmark  Court  of  Justice  case  on  roaming  (C-58/08  Vodafone),  the  fact  that 
international  roaming  is  cross-border  itself  justifies  action  at  EU  level  because  Member  States  cannot  by 
themselves address the issue effectively. Furthermore, national regulatory authorities have not had the tools to tackle 
the problems themselves. 

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The  2019  Commission review  report’s findings  and  those  of the  Body  of the  European  Regulators for  Electronic 
Communications  (BEREC)  confirm,  that  the  abolition  of  retail  roaming  charges  in  the  EEA  has  substantially 
contributed  to  the  completion  of  the  single  market.  End-users  have  also  been  able  to  benefit  from  RLAH  with  a 
significant  increase  in  volumes  since  June  2017.  The  report  concludes  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 unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, to such an extent that retail or wholesale regulation of 
the roaming market could be lifted. The value added is enabling sustainable and genuine RLAH for end-users, via 
EU wide wholesale caps which only an EU instrument can ensure.  
B. Solutions 

What are the various options to achieve the objectives? Is there a preferred option or not? If not, 
why? 

The Commission is proposing and assessing four different options:  

Option 1 (Baseline) – Extension of the rules, maintaining the current provisions of the Roaming Regulation at 
both retail and wholesale level.  

Option 2 – Continuity of the Roaming Regulation with clarifications, increased transparency and measures to 
strengthen competition.  

Option 3 – Sustainable and genuine RLAH (preferred option).  

Option 4 – Expanded wholesale and retail obligations for an enhanced RLAH experience.  

The  preferred  option  is  Option  3,  which  would  ensure  the  highest  effectiveness  and  efficiency  in  reaching  the 
objectives of the review and extension of the Roaming Regulation (in the form of a recast). It includes measures to 
ensure  the  sustainable  provision  of  RLAH,  with  a  proposed  glide  path  to  lower  the  caps  at  wholesale  level.  It 
introduces  improvements  to  respond  to  technological  and  business  developments  and  ensure  a  genuine  RLAH 
experience  for  end-users  related  to  quality  of  service,  value  added  services  and  emergency  communications.  It 
includes horizontal simplification and measures to reduce administrative burden.  

What are different stakeholders' views? Who supports which option?  

Stakeholders  have  different  views  on  the  level  of  price  caps,  quality  of  service  requirements,  and  access  to 
emergency  services.  Large  inbounder  network  operators  (and  especially  pan-European  groups)  tend  to  favour 
maintaining the wholesale caps at the current level. On the other hand, small outbounder network operators (‘having 
a  customer  base  that  consumes  more  mobile  services  abroad  than  those  consumed  by  the  partner  operators’ 
customer base on its own network) and virtual operators seem to support a significant lowering of wholesale caps.  

C. Impacts of the preferred option 

What are the benefits of the preferred option (if any, otherwise of main ones)?                                     

The preferred option balances operators’ interests in ensuring a sustainable provision of RLAH without threatening 
cost  recovery  in  the  provision  of  wholesale  roaming  services.  Lower  wholesale  caps  imply  a  likely  reduction  in 
wholesale roaming costs for outbounder operators. The Commission’s sustainability analysis estimates that this will 
lead to  a reduction  in  the percentage  of  unsustainable  operators (negative  roaming  margin  exceeding  3% of  their 
domestic margin) and a related reduction in the total negative roaming margin compared to the baseline of 42% in 
2023 and 52% in 2025.  

Consumer benefits are also important; the proportion of end-users at risk of facing surcharges when the operator 
has been granted a sustainability derogation would be reduced by more than 40%, and exceptionally paid surcharges 
would  be  further  reduced.  This  option  will  improve  end-users’  experience  while  roaming  by  contributing  to  an 
improved quality of service and higher consumer awareness about the quality of service they should expect while 
roaming,  and  by  helping  roamers  avoid  bill shock  from  calls  to  value added  services.  Both  are likely  to  result in 
increased customer satisfaction and reduced complaints.  

This  option  also  provides  the  necessary  tools  for  operators  to  implement  free-of-charge  access  to  emergency 

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services  and  provide  caller  location  information  for  all  roaming  end-users,  including  those  with  disabilities.  This 
will help safeguard their health, life or property. 

Finally,  the  preferred  option  aims  to  enable  consumers  and  business  users  to  benefit  from  technological 
developments and 5G-driven innovation while travelling. 

There are also some (slight) environmental benefits expected by making it easier for roamers to use environmentally 
friendly  mobile  services  and  applications  (e.g.  new  5G  and  IoT  mobile  services  to  connect  vehicles  and  road 
infrastructure that could prevent human casualties and reduce fuel costs and air pollution). 

What are the costs of the preferred option (if any, otherwise of main ones)?                                    

The reduction in wholesale caps implies a likely reduction in wholesale roaming revenues for inbounder operators, 
while  still  ensuring  full  cost  recovery.  For  operators,  a  possible  reduction  in  retail  roaming  revenues  is  linked  to 
lower surcharges – consumers may be asked to pay in the exceptional cases when those are allowed (fair use policy 
and sustainability derogations), in which cases surcharges cannot exceed the wholesale caps. Additional compliance 
costs  for  operators  and  administrations  are  minor  (estimated  to  be  less  than  6  person  days  per  year  for  each  on 
average).  

The proposed measure on access to emergency services implies implementation costs. However, these are mostly 
linked to the implementation of rights and obligations already defined in other EU legislation (European Electronic 
Communications  Code).  Finally,  the  development  and  maintenance  of  a  database  with  number  ranges  of  value 
added  services  across  the  EEA  will  incur  costs  for BEREC  (responsible  for  both  tasks)  and  modest  costs  for  the 
national regulatory authorities (responsible for updating the database contents). 

What are the impacts on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?  

SMEs will be able to benefit from a genuine RLAH experience, due to improved quality of service and the reduced 
risk  of  sustainability  derogations.  SMEs  and  application  developers  will  further  benefit  from  consumers  using 
applications while crossing borders, with an improved and known quality of service. New applications and services, 
that  require  high  quality  of  service  or  5G  can  benefit  indirectly:  the  seamless  use  across  the  Internal  Market  can 
support their uptake. 

Will there be significant impacts on national budgets and administrations?  

No significant impacts on national budgets and administrations are expected.  

Will there be other significant impacts?  

A reduction in the administrative burden is possible thanks to a proposal to revise wholesale caps, if needed, by way 
of a delegated act, which simplifies the legislative process (after 2025). Further savings are linked to a streamlined 
monitoring system, simplified requirements for operators outside the eurozone and the repeal of obsolete provisions. 

Proportionality?  

The preferred option contains a set of measures that are neither intrusive nor disproportionate. They are  limited to 
those  aspects  that  have  been  observed  and  not  sufficiently  addressed  by  the  current  regulation,  and  cannot  be 
addressed effectively at national level. The limited duration of 10 years further ensures proportionality. 

D. Follow up 

When will the policy be reviewed?  

The Commission proposes that the new regulation runs for 10 years to ensure certainty in the market and minimise 
the  regulatory  burden.  Market  competition  is  not  expected  to  significantly  change  in  this  period.  A  first  review 
report is planned for 2025, when the Commission will assess how the roaming market is functioning and whether 
there is a need for a policy review to address emerging challenges. 

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