The roaming mess in Europe

Not everyone is happy with processes in EU and some think that the roaming deal in Europe is a huge "mess". This is the position of experts and operators in the mobile telephony market who are skeptical of the decisions reached by the EU to abolish roaming fees by June 15, 2017. The skeptics include Manuel Zanella, CEO of ChatSim, Instant Messaging Mobile Operator.

"The abolition of roaming by the EU will prove to be only an apparent costs and a way to lead consumers by the nose. As always, only big multinationals will be benefit from it." Manuel Zanella has absolutely no doubts. He is sure that in the end the costs for users will increase both for domestic plans and roaming outside the EU. "The EU has ordered the complete elimination of roaming for EU citizens traveling in Europe and hasset a ceiling of €7.70 per gigabyte as the maximum cost among operators," explains Zanella.

"This cost between operator seems to be cheaper than today’s €50, but it is still too high and unbearable for operators who must pay it without getting any revenue from ‘roaming’. Why? For instance, there are operators who give 8 gigabytes of traffic included for domestic traffic for €10 a month. From June 15th, users can use the included gigabytes in any country of the EU. One thing is clear: the roaming costs that operators will have to shoulder will not be covered by domestic revenue. So I expect that there will be a natural and justified hike in rates and a decrease in the gigabytes included in domestic plans. I also expect that there will be increases in roaming costs outside the EU too. I am absolutely sure that whenever governments and lawmakers step in to regulate the market trying to do what free competition should, the side effects and negative impacts outweight by far any positive effects," concluded the ChatSim CEO.