A European Union (EU) law to abolish roaming for Europeans using mobile phones within the 28-nation bloc came to action on Thursday. The EU started scrapping European roaming charges by enforcing price caps since a decade ago.
"The end of roaming charges is at the foundation of the EU's Digital Single Market and is another step towards building a united and sustainable European digital society, accessible for all our citizens," said EU in a statement.
The Eurotariff is the result of the European Commission's demand that European Union providers offer mobile roaming across Europe without any premium. The regulation ensures European consumers can "roam like at home" with no extra cost. However, this means lower revenues for many operators who still face significant roaming fees, particularly with the explosion of video use. The impact of this -- if not proactively managed -- could reduce competition and increase monthly tariffs, according to Mobolize, a leading mobile data orchestration company.
The company calls on Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to act swiftly to address the revenue gap created by today's introduction of the Eurotariff. Some operators fear that they could see their margins wiped out by wholesale data roaming charges which significantly outstrip the cost of domestic data, added Mobilize.
Content compression technologies can significantly reduce the bandwidth required for streaming video, but require MNOs to install expensive equipment into their network infrastructure. MVNOs, who are at the mercy of their MNO partners, are unlikely to benefit from these solutions -- even where available -- as the MNOs goal is to increase data revenue, said the company.
Philip Mustain, Chairman & CEO, Mobolize
As video continues to drive data consumption up by around 60 percent annually, many operators face a stark choice when their customers roam: absorbing the additional cost, losing their price advantage, or crudely throttling data at the cost of customer experience.
