BRUSSELS—The European Union has announced plans to cap the international roaming rates that carriers charge one another, which could end up cutting those prices by as much as 70 percent.
“The commission wants to ensure that prices paid by consumers for roaming services within the EU are not unjustifiably higher than those they pay for calling within their own country,” according to a statement by the regulatory body. The commission has estimated that “very high” international wireless roaming costs affect at least 147 million EU citizens, most of whom are business customers and the rest of whom are tourists.
The new regulation could go into effect by next summer, but still requires approval from the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. It reportedly will be implemented over a span of six months.
Stocks of EU mobile operators such as Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone Group plc, who would be affected by the regulation, were down slightly in midday trading on Wall Street.
