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EU lawmakers want to scrap roaming fees by 2015 - EU paper

Mon, 24th Feb 2014 12:39

* Lawmakers against discriminating between internet contentproviders

* EU Parliament committee to vote on proposals 1800 GMT

* Proposals need European Parliamentary, EU member nations'approvals

By Foo Yun Chee and Leila Abboud

BRUSSELS, Feb 24 (Reuters) - EU lawmakers want to scrapmobile phone roaming charges by 2015 and to prevent telecomsnetwork operators from charging companies such as Google and Amazon to provide faster Web services, EUdocuments show.

The proposals from the European Parliament's industrycommittee go far beyond European Telecoms Commissioner NeelieKroes's plans to overhaul the EU telecoms industry, whichinclude ending roaming fees by 2016.

The plans come as Europe's telecoms providers struggle tolift their revenues, down for the fifth consecutive year.

"With effect from 15 December 2015, roaming providers shallnot levy any surcharge in comparison to the charges for mobilecommunications services at domestic level on roaming customersin any member states for any regulated roaming call made orreceived," the committee said in a paper seen by Reuters.

It said roaming charges for sending text messages and forusing any regulated data roaming services should also be phasedout by the same deadline.

The committee also sided with proponents of net neutrality,concerned that telecoms companies might block or slow access tocontent on the Internet or charge content providers more fordelivering their services at faster speeds.

"Where such agreements are concluded with the provider ofinternet access, that provider should ensure that the enhancedquality service does not cause material detriment to the generalquality of internet access," the EU document said.

Telecoms operators, some of whom might already have suchdeals, said industry sources, are opposed to the proposed rule.

"The principle that all types of Internet traffic have to betreated equally is at odds with the way in which the Internetworks today, as different types of traffic have differentrequirements and need to be managed efficiently," LuigiGambardella, head of the European Telecommunications NetworkOperators' Association (ETNO), said.

ETNO, whose members include Orange, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica but not Vodafone, conveyed its criticism jointly withthe GSMA, the worldwide mobile operators' lobbying group, toKroes and the committee.

The committee will vote on the proposals at 1800 GMT. Theproposals would still need the approval of EU lawmakers and 28EU governments before becoming law.

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