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By Julia Fioretti
BRUSSELS, Jan 16 (Reuters) - European Union consumers couldpay domestic rates to access mobile internet data across the28-nation single market under EU Council proposals to granttravellers an allowance capped at their home tariffs.
The "roam like at home" option put forward by Latvia, whichholds the rotating EU presidency, garnered the support of mostmember states at a Council meeting this week, EU diplomats said,paving the way for legislation to be drafted.
A first draft is expected in around two weeks, diplomatssaid, although it could still undergo further changes. Oncemember states in the Council agree on a position, they cannegotiate with EU lawmakers and the executive EuropeanCommission to arrive at a final version.
Last year, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly toflatten roaming fees within the EU by the end of 2015, asdata-hungry consumers complained of the high and opaque cost ofusing their devices abroad.
Under the current system, network providers pay theiroverseas counterparts a fee for each megabyte (MB) of data usedby their customers abroad, then pass this cost on to consumersin their monthly bill.
But the cost to consumers of accessing data abroad isfrequently much higher than at home. In some well-publicisedcases, travellers have received bills of thousands of euros ontheir return.
According to the proposal, operators would have to providedata to consumers abroad at domestic rates up to a limitedallowance, which has not been specified.
Beyond this allowance, operators will not be able to chargeconsumers more than the maximum wholesale prices, currently 0.05euros per minute or MB of data. Many consumers pay over 0.20euros per minute or MB of data abroad.
Member states with cheap domestic rates, such as those ineastern Europe, worry that their operators will be forced tohike domestic prices if the wholesale tariffs they pay otheroperators when their customers travel abroad are not lowered.
Latvia's paper says the proposed system would avoid thesituation where retail roaming prices would be lower thanwholesale costs.
But depending on the size of the domestic-rate allowance,the legislation could lead to a flattening of data prices acrossthe single market if companies in cheaper markets have to coverthe cost of their customers using data abroad.
Telecoms companies have said ending roaming chargesprematurely would hurt their revenues. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Sam Wilkin)
