International Roaming

The International Roaming Working Group (IR WG) focuses on roaming related matters as well on intra-EU communications. The IR WG examines roaming and intra-European Union (EU) communications across EU borders (as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein). It monitors, supervises and gives guidance to stakeholders on harmonized implementation of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union – the 'Roaming Regulation' – and Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down measures concerning open internet access and retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications – the 'Intra-EEA Regulation'.

BEREC contribution to the EU/Moldovan lower roaming prices

Working Group Co-chairs

The image shows Ioanna Choudalaki, Co-chair of the BEREC International Roaming Working Group
The image shows Elisabeth Felber, Co-chair of the BEREC International Roaming Working Group

Ioanna Choudalaki

EETT, Greece

Elisabeth Felber

RTR, Austria

(Note: This video was recorded in 2022).

Work in 2023

In 2023, the IR WG will continue working on related topics based on the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) Work Programme 2023.

International roaming benchmark data and monitoring report

The new Roaming Regulation provides for the production of one BEREC report, including the information previously reported by the two BEREC roaming benchmark data reports, the BEREC transparency and comparability report and additional indicators. 

The European Commission (EC) must be notified once a year of the data to be collected by BEREC. Based on the data collected, BEREC must also report regularly on the evolution of pricing and consumption patterns in the Member States, both for domestic and roaming services, the evolution of actual wholesale roaming rates for balanced and unbalanced traffic and the relationship between retail prices, wholesale charges and wholesale costs for roaming services. BEREC will assess how closely those elements relate to each other. The BEREC Roaming Data Report will include an Annex reporting on the evolution of roaming prices and volumes for the Western Balkan region.

BEREC input to the Commission on the Review of the Intra-EU Communications Regulation

According to recital 53 of the Roaming Regulation, the EC, with the support of BEREC, should assess the effects of the existing measures introduced by the BEREC Regulation on intra-EU communications and determine whether and to what extent there is an ongoing need to reduce the caps to protect consumers. For this purpose, BEREC will draft an opinion analysing the measures imposed. The opinion will mainly be based on the data collected for the Intra-EU Communications Benchmark Data Report.

BEREC input to the Commission on the Review of the Commission Implementing Regulation on the Fair Use Policy and Sustainability of the Roaming Regulation

In July 2022, BEREC received a request from the EC to provide an opinion on the EC Implementing Regulation on the Fair Use Policy and Sustainability of the Roaming Regulation. BEREC is requested to respond to the EC's questions and especially to consider the requirements of the Roaming Regulation laid down in Article 7(2) and (3) and recitals 28 to 30. As input for the analysis to be included in the BEREC Opinion, BEREC will use the data collected for the BEREC Roaming Data Report published in the autumn of 2022.

Intra-EU communications Benchmark Report

BEREC provides a template to contribute to harmonised data collection in the EU/Euroean Economic Area. National Regulatory Authorities, therefore, collect data from fixed and mobile operators yearly and submit the data to BEREC.
In 2023, BEREC plans to publish the 4th Benchmark Report (including data from 2022) on the data collection findings. Using the data collected, BEREC will publish an annex to the report with the updated BEREC benchmarking for the derogation assessments.

BEREC Report on M2M and permanent roaming

The Roaming Regulation includes a reference for the Machine to Machine (M2M) services (recitals 14 and 21) and new monitoring requirements. For the report under this item, BEREC plans to analyse M2M services that allow for roaming for periodic traveling but also that rely on permanent roaming. BEREC will investigate potential obstacles for operators to negotiate (permanent) roaming agreements, whether they allow permanent roaming in their network to provide such services, and what pricing schemes are applied.

Why is this important?

The Roam Like At Home principle is a crucial cornerstone of EU Single Market. Since its implementation, the Roaming Regulation has empowered and enabled citizens to communicate easily without any extra-costs when traveling across Europe. In addition, the new Roaming Regulation brought new rules for Quality of Service, increased transparency for EU citizens and access to emergency services, while roaming.