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

Ioanna Choudalaki

EETT, Greece

Elisabeth Felber

RTR, Austria

(Note: This video was recorded in 2022)

Work in 2024

In 2024, the IR WG will continue working on related topics based on the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) Work Programme 2024.

International roaming benchmark data and monitoring report

According to the Roaming Regulation, BEREC has to report on technical matters within its competence. The data to be collected by BEREC are to be notified to the European Commission (EC) once a year. On the basis of the data collected, BEREC also has to 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.

Update of BEREC retail Guidelines on the Roaming Regulation

Depending on the outcome of the EC’s revision of the EC Implementing Regulation on the Roaming fair use Policy and the Sustainability of retail roaming charges, the BEREC retail Guidelines on the Roaming Regulation need to be revised.

Intra-EU communications Benchmark Report

In 2024, BEREC is planning to publish the 5th Benchmark Report (including data from 2023) on the findings of the data collection. The data collection for this report will be launched in March with a deadline for NRAs to forward the data to the BEREC office in mid-May. Using the collected data, BEREC will also publish an annex to the report, with the updated BEREC benchmarking for the derogation assessments.

4th Ukraine Monitoring Report

Following the ongoing war against Ukraine, launched by Russia with the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, BEREC has closely followed the telecommunications sector’s response to the crisis and welcomed the measures voluntarily provided by EU operators. According to the Joint Statement, signed by both European Economic Area and Ukrainian operators, BEREC is responsible to monitor the implementation.

Update of BEREC Intra-EU communications Guidelines

Depending on the outcome of legislative discussion on the Intra-EU communications regulation, the BEREC Guidelines need to be revised.

Roaming Regulation Report

Article 21(1) of the Roaming Regulation provides for the review procedure of the Regulation. The EC shall, after consulting BEREC, submit, by 30 June 2025, the first assessment report on the functioning of the Roaming Regulation to the European Parliament and to the Council, followed, if appropriate, by a legislative proposal to amend this Regulation. BEREC intends to provide its opinion to the EC taking into account the assessment criteria required by this Article. Data that BEREC has collected until the time of the preparation of the report will be used for BEREC’s analysis. BEREC will start preparing this analysis during 2024.

BEREC Report on M2M and permanent roaming (carry-over)

For the report under this item, BEREC plans to analyse Machine-to-Machine services that enable roaming for ‘periodic travelling’ but also that rely on permanent roaming. BEREC will investigate potential obstacles for operators to negotiate (permanent) roaming agreements, whether they enable permanent roaming in their network for the provision of 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.

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