EU enforces net neutrality, bins roaming costs

LONDON: Telecommunications companies in the EU will be banned from charging premiums for roaming services starting in June 2017 under a compromise reached on Tuesday on an overhaul of rules for the industry.

When travelling in the EU, mobile-phone users will pay the same price as at home, according to the agreement on proposed legislation reached by negotiators from the European Parliament, the EU governments and the European Commission, the Brussels-based commission said on Tuesday.

The agreement needs formal approval by the Parliament and the bloc’s 28 governments. “National borders will no longer be decisive in causing charges,” Guenther Oettinger, the EU’s commissioner for the Digital Economy, said.