Activities of Adam BIELAN related to 2021/0045(COD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (recast)
Amendments (16)
Amendment 31 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) The widespread use of internet- enabled mobile devices means that data roaming is of great economic significance, especially given the growing importance of the Internet of Things (IoT) and a number of these devices moved during travels abroad. This is relevant for both users and providers of applications and content. In order to stimulate the development of this market, charges for data transport should not impede growth , in particular considering that the deployment of 5G networks and services is expected to grow steadily .
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital (14)
Recital (14)
(14) In order to allow for the development of a more efficient, integrated and competitive market for roaming services, there should be no restrictions preventing undertakings from effectively negotiating wholesale access for the purpose of providing roaming services. Obstacles to access to such wholesale roaming services, due to differences in negotiating power and in the degree of infrastructure ownership of undertakings, should be removed. To that end, wholesale roaming access agreements should respect the principle of technology neutrality and ensure all operators an equal and fair opportunity to accessing all networks and technologies available and be negotiated in good faith allowing the roaming provider to offer retail roaming services equivalent to the services offered domestically. and ensuring that mobile network operators cannot put the inbound roaming customers in a disadvantaged position compared to those mobile network operators’ own domestic customers as regards the quality of services. Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and resellers of mobile communication services without their own network infrastructure typically provide roaming services based on commercial wholesale roaming agreements with their host mobile network operators in the same Member State. Commercial negotiations, however, may not leave enough margin to MVNOs and resellers for stimulating competition through lower prices. The removal of those obstacles and balancing the negotiation power between MVNOs/resellers and mobile network operators by an access obligation and wholesale caps should facilitate the development of alternative, innovative and Union-wide roaming services and offers for customers. Directive (EU) 2018/1972 does not provide for a solution to this problem via the imposition of obligations on operators with significant market powers.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) Roaming customers should, to the greatest extent possible, be able to use the retail services that they subscribe to and benefit from the same level of quality of service as at home, when roaming in the Union. To that end, roaming providers should take the necessary measures to ensure that regulated retail roaming services are provided under the same conditions as if such services were consumed domestically. In particular, the same as advertised quality of service should be offered to customers when roaming, if technically feasible. Additionally, roaming providers should make it possible for the consumer to verify the estimated download and upload speed, latency and available data transfer technology.
Amendment 56 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 36
Recital 36
(36) Roaming customers and home operators sometimes unwittingly incur large bills as a result of the lack of transparency on the numbers used for value added services across the Union and on the wholesale prices charged for value added services. Communications to certain numbers which are used for providing value added services, for example, premium-rate numbers, freephone numbers or shared cost numbers, are subject to particular pricing conditions at the national level. This Regulation should not apply to the part of the tariff that is charged for the provision of value added services but only to the tariffs for the connection to such services. Nevertheless, the RLAH principle might create an expectation for end-users that communications to such numbers while roaming should not incur any increased cost in comparison to the domestic situation. However, this is not always the case when roaming. End-users are confronted with increased costs, even when they call numbers that are free when called domestically. This could erode customers’ confidence in using their phones when roaming and could result in bill shocks, thus having a negative impact on a genuine RLAH experience. This is mainly caused, at retail level by the insufficient level of transparency on the higher charges which can be incurred because of communications to value added services numbers. Therefore measures should be introduced to increase the transparency on the conditions for communications to value added services numbers. To that end, roaming customers should be informed in their contract and notified and warned, in a timely manner and free of charge, that communications to value added services numbers in roaming can entail additional charges and how they could easily access and verify a particular value added service number via the publicly available web page.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 43
Recital 43
(43) In order to improve the transparency of retail prices for roaming services and to help roaming customers make decisions on the use of their mobile devices while abroad, providers of mobile communication services should supply their roaming customers with information free of charge on the roaming charges applicable to them when using roaming services in a visited Member State. Since certain customer groups might be well informed about roaming charges, roaming providers should provide a possibility to easily opt-out from this automatic message service. In addition, roaming customers should be provided with a text message including a link to a free of charge web page giving detailed information about the types of services (calls and SMS) that may be subject to increased costs. Moreover, providers should actively give their customers, provided that the latter are located in the Union, on request and free of charge, additional information on the per- minute, per-SMS or per-megabyte data charges (including VAT) for the making or receiving of voice calls and also for the sending and receiving of SMS, MMS and other data communication services in the visited Member State.
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 45
Recital 45
(45) Customers living in border regions should not receive unnecessarily high bills due to inadvertent roaming. Roaming providers should therefore take reasonable steps to protect customers against incurring roaming charges while they are located in their Member State, including by enrolling a dedicated software, equipment and algorithms preventing inadvertent roaming. This should include adequate information measures in order to empower customers to actively prevent such instances of inadvertent roaming. National regulatory authorities should be alert to situations in which customers face problems with paying roaming charges while they are still located in their Member State and should take appropriate steps to mitigate the problem.
Amendment 67 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 47
Recital 47
(47) In addition, in order to avoid bill shocks, roaming providers should define one or more maximum financial and/or volume limits for their outstanding charges for all data roaming services, expressed in the currency in which the roaming customer is billed, and which they should offer to all their roaming customers, free of charge, with an appropriate notification unless the roaming customer opts-out from the measure, in a media format that can be consulted again subsequently, when that limit is being approached. Upon reaching that maximum limit, customers should no longer receive or be charged for those services unless they specifically request continued provision of those services in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the notification. In such a case, they should receive free confirmation, in a media format that can be consulted again subsequently. Roaming customers should be given the opportunity to opt for anyout of those maximum financial or volume limits within a reasonable period or to choose not to have such a limit. Customer should be further notified of such opportunity before conclusion of the contract. Unless customers state otherwise, they should be put on a default limit system.
Amendment 70 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 50 a (new)
Recital 50 a (new)
(50a) Roaming tariffs incurred by roaming customers when they connect, actively or inadvertently, to non-terrestrial networks are significantly higher than tariffs for regulated roaming services. Therefore, additional safeguard and transparency measures should be introduced to apply also on roaming on non-terrestrial networks on board vessel and aircraft, due to the limited tools protecting roaming customers on non- terrestrial networks.
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 53
Recital 53
(53) Number ranges, including those used for value added services, are set in the national numbering plans and are not harmonised at Union level. Operators may therefore not be able to recognise the numbering ranges for value added services in all countries in advance. Numbering ranges used for value added services are subject to particular pricing conditions at the national level and in many cases their termination rates are not regulated. While this is understood to roaming providers, the level of the wholesale charges they will incur may still be unexpectedly high. In a roaming scenario, operators are unable to address this issue, because they lack information on number ranges used for value added services throughout the Union. To address this problem BEREC should establish and maintain a single Union- wide, secure database for value added services’ numbering ranges. The database is intended as a transparency tool that will enable National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and operators to have direct access to information about which numbering ranges can generate higher costs (termination rates) in all Member States. Itf properly justified, BEREC can enable access to relevant data for individuals and organisations, including via application programming interface. The database represents a necessary intermediate step to increase transparency at retail level as it could be used to inform roaming customers about the types of services that may be subject to increased charges when roaming. BEREC should establish the procedures by which the competent authorities are to provide and update the information requested under Article 17.
Amendment 95 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Amendment 109 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 1
BEREC shall establish and maintain a single Union-wide database of value added services numbering ranges in each Member State to be made accessible for national regulatory authorities and operators. The database shall be established by 31 Decemberat latest by 30 June 20232. To that end, the NRA or other competent authorities shall, by electronic means, provide the necessary information and the relevant updates to BEREC without undue delay.
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point a a (new)
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point a a (new)
(aa) the uptake of the new technologies and measures minimising the risk of inadvertent roaming by the operators and to what extent these technologies contributed to limiting issues for consumers living in border regions.
Amendment 119 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point c
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point c
(c) the evolution of the machine-to- machine roamingand IoT roaming, including for consumer devices;
Amendment 122 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point j
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point j
(j) the extent to which roaming customers and operators face problems in relation to value added services and the extent to which BEREC database addressed these problems;
Amendment 128 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22
Article 22
Amendment 129 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23
Article 23