EU plays down reports it will scrap roaming cuts

The European Commission still plans to continue reducing roaming rates, despite reports suggesting that the proposed cuts have been scrapped.

Reports had suggested that Neelie Kroes, VP of the European Commission made a U-turn to continue slashing roaming after several telecom companies expressed concerns.

However, a spokesperson for the Commission has played down these reports claiming that they are incorrect.

"It's not accurate - we are still planning to end roaming [cuts]. The plan will be published on 11 Sept in the State of the Union speech of European Commission President Barroso,"a spokesperson told IT Pro.

A European roaming cap came into force on the 1 July 2013. This reduced the cap on voice calls to 24 cents per minute and reduced the cost per MB to 45 cents. These price cuts represented a 12.5 per cent and 36 per cent reduction, respectively, when compared to 2012.

Kroes is said to have wanted to further reduce the cost of voice calls to 3 cents (2.56p) per minute between July 2014 and June 2022.

The VP also wanted to slash the wholesale cap for data to 1.5 cents (1.28p) per MB.

Despite the Reuters report claiming that these caps were no longer mentioned in the latest draft of Kroes' report, no details have been confirmed by the Commission, save for confirmation that President Barroso's speech will be on 11 September.