European travellers will no longer have to pay roaming charges for using their mobile phones within the EU after the bloc reached a deal Wednesday that will take effect in June. The hard-won accord is the key element towards delivering the long-delayed "free roaming" promise first made by Brussels with great fanfare in early 2015.
"This was the last piece of the puzzle. As of June 15, Europeans will be able to travel in the EU without roaming charges," said Andrus Ansip, the commission's vice-president for the Digital Single Market. The plan was initially delayed when angry telecoms operators in tourist magnets such as Italy and Spain complained of the deal's knock-on effects and threatened to hike domestic prices to pay for travellers from northern Europe using their networks. They complained that "free roaming" would in effect make poorer Europeans in the south pay for wealthy tourists phoning home or surfing for data while on holiday. Roaming charges have long been a lucrative source of extra income for telecoms companies.