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* Withdrawal of draft on "fair use" after consumerdisappointment
* But mobile operators complain proposal was already toogenerous
* Juncker, reacting to Brexit, seeks to show EU works forvoters (Adds industry reaction, EU officials, edits)
By Julia Fioretti and Alastair Macdonald
BRUSSELS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The European Commissionwithdrew proposals on Friday that would limit next year'sabolition of mobile phone roaming charges after criticism thatthe rules should do more to favour telecoms firms' customers.
In a dramatic U-turn, four days after officials publishedrules to restrict how many days consumers could use phonesabroad without extra fees, President Jean-Claude Juncker orderedthe draft revised in what allies and officials said showed thatthe EU executive wanted to be seen to listen to ordinary voters.
Three months after the British public delivered a shatteringblow to the European Union by opting to leave the bloc, Junckerand leaders of the other EU states are working to restore trustin an institution which insurgent eurosceptics say is out oftouch and in the pockets of big, globalised corporations.
The telecoms industry, however, was unimpressed, saying theCommission's original proposal was already painful for them.
After years of progressively capping roaming charges, EU lawwill end the practice altogether in the middle of next year forcustomers who make "fair use" of the service, in terms of howmuch time and data they use and how long they spend abroad.
Under Monday's draft definition of "fair use", published forpublic comment, firms could charge clients extra who use theirphones abroad for more than 90 days a year or 30 in a row. TheCommission says the average European is abroad 12 days a year.
Juncker, who will make his annual State of the Union speechon Wednesday, did not see the proposal before it went out butheard public feedback, a Commission spokesman said: "We havebeen listening and now we are going back to the drawing board."
EU officials told Reuters their main concern was that theproposal was not good enough for consumers. Mobile operatorsassociation GSMA said it also welcomed a review, calling thedraft over-complex for customers - as well as "unworkable" on acommercial and technical level for the companies themselves.
Another group, ETNO, said the 90-day allowance went farbeyond the spirit of the law that will take effect next June.
Companies pay firms in the other country wholesale pricesfor data and calls when a customer of theirs roams abroad. Theyargue that big variations in mobile prices across the bloc makeit uneconomic for them to offer totally free roaming to all.
Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein insisted that,despite negative media commentary this week on the limitationsfor consumers, most Europeans would benefit from new regulationsthat were a "major success" for EU policymakers.
"Roaming charges are going to disappear entirely by June2017. Period," he told a news conference.
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For a decade, battles over roaming charges have provided abarometer of EU politics. Europeans, millions of whom frequentlycross often nearby borders, have been irritated by charges formaking calls or using data abroad that seem very much greaterthan any additional costs required to provide such a service.
The Commission, in its role as enforcer of a single marketblind to national frontiers inside the EU, has long cited itscampaign to cap roaming charges, forcing them down by some 90percent since 2007, in efforts to show voters it works for them.
But rearguard action by phone companies, defending profitsand citing big discrepancies in the prices customers pay across domestic markets that range from Bulgaria to wealthy Luxembourg,has left disappointed consumer groups accusing the EU of cavingin to corporate lobbying in Brussels and in national capitals.
The German leader of the centre-right bloc in the EuropeanParliament, which supported the conservative Luxemburger in hisappointment as Commission president, hailed Juncker's move andsaid people expected him to keep pledges made by Brussels.
"We are pushing for an end to roaming fees for Europeanconsumers in 2017 in full transparency," Manfred Weber said."This is what we promised citizens ... We expect the EuropeanCommission to give a strong signal in this direction next week."
Officials say Juncker's State of the Union address to theparliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday is likely to containproposals to promote economic growth and the single EU marketfollowing Britain's vote for Brexit on June 23.
EU officials say that Juncker is determined to fight backagainst the rise of eurosceptic parties, including in France,Germany and the Netherlands which hold elections next year, byensuring the Commission demonstrates it is acting for voters.
Over the summer, the Commission decided not to levy fines onSpain and Portugal for breaking budget rules in the euro zone.
Last week, it made headlines by handing a record 13-billioneuro tax demand to iPhone maker Apple Inc, saying theIrish government had effectively given it illegal subsidies byfailing to collect taxes on profits routed through Ireland.
(Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Alison Williams)
