Activities of Robert HAJŠEL related to 2021/0045(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Roaming Regulation (recast) (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT 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 (39)
Amendment 29 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) An internal telecommunications market cannot be said to exist while there are differences between domestic and roaming prices. Therefore the difference between domestic charges and roaming charges should be eliminated , thus establishing an internal market for mobile communication services. Specifities of IoT must be taken into consideration.
Amendment 30 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7 a (new)
Recital 7 a (new)
(7 a) Takes note of increasing data consumption abroad and in this regard recalls the importance of European programmes such as WiFi4EU that should support high-speed connection in public spaces throughout the EU and guarantee accessibility especially in less developed countries and regions for students, lower income groups and vulnerable people. Therefore the Commission should further develop and invest in programmes such as WiFi4EU.
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. 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 ncluding Internet of Things solutions is expected to grow steadily. Notes the increased level of uncertainty the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the predictability of future volumes of roaming traffic.
Amendment 35 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9 a (new)
Recital 9 a (new)
(9 a) Roaming is relevant for facilitating innovation, and especially for benefiting users of connected objects. Recognises that in the future wholesale access should also cover Internet of Things in order to enable consumers to use their IoT devices seemingly across the EU Member States
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital new(14
Recital new(14
new(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 faithto the best knowledge allowing the roaming provider to offer retail roaming services equivalent to the services offered domestically. 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 47 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) In accordance with Article 109 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, all end-users should have access to emergency services, free of charge, through emergency communications to the most appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP). Member States are also required to ensure that access for end-users with disabilities to emergency services is available through emergency communications, especially while travelling abroad, and is equivalent to that enjoyed by other end- users. Takes into account the obligations imposed in Article 2 and 4 of the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) that Member States shall ensure that economic operators provide services that comply with the accessibility requirements of this Directive. It is for the Member States to determine the type of emergency communications that are technically feasible to ensure roaming customers access to emergency services. In order to ensure that roaming customers have access to emergency communications under the conditions laid down in Article 109 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, visited network operators should inform the roaming provider through the wholesale roaming agreement about what type of emergency communications are mandated under national measures in the visited Member State. In addition, wholesale roaming agreements should include information on the technical parameters for ensuring access to emergency services, including for roaming customers with disabilities, as well as for ensuring the transmission of caller location information to the most appropriate PSAP in the visited Member State. Such information should allow the roaming provider to identify and provide the emergency communication and the transmission of caller location free of charge.
Amendment 51 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21 a (new)
Recital 21 a (new)
(21 a) In the long term, facilitating M2M roaming should be recognised as an important facilitator to digitise EU industry and build on related EU policies for sectors such as health, energy, environment, and transport. The Commission should assess the M2M and IoT connectivity market and provide recommendations in cooperation with BEREC and relevant stakeholders.
Amendment 58 #
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 taking into account the obligations imposed in the Open Internet Regulation (Regulation(EU) 2015/2120, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015) to treat all traffic equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference. Similar quality of service should be offered to customers when roaming, if technically feasiavailable.
Amendment 73 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 36 a (new)
Recital 36 a (new)
(36 a) At a minimum, providers should clearly inform about specific pricing in timely manner, whenever consumers use value-added services. The Commission should introduce a rule that value-added services must cost the same for roaming consumers as nationals of that EU/EEA country.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 42
Recital 42
(42) To ensure that roaming customers have uninterrupted and effective access to emergency services, free of charge, visited networks should not levy any wholesale charge related to suchall types of emergency communications on the roaming providers that are agreed between them and home networks or/and operators.
Amendment 83 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 50
Recital 50
(50) There are considerable disparities between regulated roaming tariffs within the Union and roaming tariffs incurred by customers when they are travelling outside the Union, which are significantly higher than prices within the Union, where roaming surcharges are only exceptionally applied following the abolition of retail roaming charges . The Commission should consider including roaming provisions such as RLAH in future international agreements with 3rd countries especially those bordering with the EU and those being part of the pre-accession negotiations. The Commission should further assess such possible provisions in the relevant agreements with Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries. Due to the absence of a consistent approach to transparency and safeguard measures concerning roaming outside the Union, consumers are not confident about their rights and are therefore often deterred from using mobile services while abroad. Transparent information provided to consumers could not only assist them in the decision as to how to use their mobile devices while travelling abroad (both within and outside the Union), but could also assist them in the choice between roaming providers. It is therefore necessary to address the problem of the lack of transparency and consumer protection by applying certain transparency and safeguard measures also to roaming services provided outside the Union. Those measures should facilitate competition and improve the functioning of the internal market.
Amendment 85 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 50 a (new)
Recital 50 a (new)
(50 a) The Commission should work closely with the non-EU/EEA countries to reach roaming agreements or, at the very least, promote competition rules that bring down prices for consumers.
Amendment 88 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 57
Recital 57
(57) Where Union providers of mobile services find the benefits of interoperability and end-to-end connectivity for their customers jeopardised by the termination, or threat of termination, of their roaming arrangements with mobile network operators in other Member States, or are unable to provide their customers with service in another Member State as a result of a lack of agreement with at least one wholesale network provider, national regulatory authorities should make use, where necessary, of the powers under Article 61 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 to ensure adequate access and interconnection , taking into account the objectives set out in Article 3 of that Directive , in particular the development of the internal market by favouring the provision, availability and interoperability of pan-European services, including of pan-European Internet of Things and end-to-end connectivity .
Amendment 90 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 59
Recital 59
(59) It is necessary to monitor and to review regularly the functioning of wholesale roaming markets and their interrelationship with the retail roaming markets, taking into account competitive and technological developments and traffic flows. The Commission should submit two reports to the European Parliament and to the Council. In its biennial reports, the Commission should, in particular, assess whether RLAH has any impact on the evolution of tariff plans available on the retail markets. That should include, on the one hand, an assessment of any emergence of tariff plans that include only domestic services and that exclude retail roaming services altogether, thus undermining the very objective of RLAH and, on the other, an assessment of any reduction in the availability of flat-rate tariff plans, which could also represent a loss for consumers and undermine the objectives of the digital single market. The Commission’s reports should, in particular, analyse the extent to which exceptional retail roaming surcharges have been authorised by national regulatory authorities, the ability of home network operators to sustain their domestic charging models and the ability of visited network operators to recover the efficiently incurred costs of providing regulated wholesale roaming services. In addition, the Commission’s reports should assess how, at wholesale level, access to the different network technologies and generations is ensured; the level of usage of trading platforms and similar instruments to trade traffic at wholesale level; the evolution of the machine-to- machine roaming; the persisting problems at retail level in relation to value added services and the application of the measures on emergency communications . Reports should include an assessment of the 5G rollout and any new technology implementation as well as effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market and end-user behaviour in terms of predictability of volumes. In order to enable such reporting with a view to assessing how the roaming markets adapt to RLAH rules, sufficient data should be gathered on the functioning of those markets after the implementation of those rules.
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 60 a (new)
Recital 60 a (new)
(60 a) The Commission should provide relevant assessments of the M2M and IoT connectivity market in order to provide necessary recommendations in cooperation with BEREC and relevant stakeholders.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. Mobile network operators shall meet all reasonable requests for wholesale roaming access , in particular allowing the roaming provider to replicate the retail mobile services offered domestically, when technically feasible according to technical capacities and availability.
Amendment 113 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Article 3 – paragraph 3
3. Wholesale roaming access shall cover access to all network elements and associated facilities, relevant services, software and information systems, necessary for the provision of regulated roaming services to customers , on any network technology and generation available in particular through equal and fair opportunity to accessing all networks and technologies available. Anomalous or abusive use shall not be covered by wholesale roaming access.
Amendment 116 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. BEREC shall, in close cooperation with the Commission and the relevant stakeholders, assess the possible future proof regulatory framework for consumers, businesses and operators to facilitate the access to next generation connectivity and modern technologies and to ensure the interoperability of key digital infrastructures, such as extensive 5G and future networks
Amendment 117 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 b (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Commission shall provide assessments of the M2M and IoT connectivity market in timely manner in order to build on necessary recommendations in close cooperation with BEREC and relevant stakeholders.
Amendment 126 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2
Article 5 – paragraph 2
2. Roaming providers shall ensure, when technically feasiavailable, that regulated retail roaming services are provided under the same conditions as if such services were consumed domestically, in particular in terms of quality of service. Roaming providers shall offer similar quality of service (same generation) where technically available. For no reason, providers shall not limit quality of service or the conditions of regulated retail roaming services.
Amendment 131 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. In order to contribute to the consistent application of this Article, BEREC shall, by ...[6 months after the entry into force of this Regulation],after consulting stakeholders and in close cooperation with the Commission, update its retail guidelines regarding the implementation of the quality of service measures. Such guidelines shall also provide more clarity around data speed and other quality of service parameters provided while roaming
Amendment 135 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2 b (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. BEREC shall closely monitor the market and provide follow up assessments. Special attention shall be brought to the assessment of the quality of service, including reports on the statistics about complaints received by consumers on the quality of services, the suitability of the existing regulatory approach/regulation and the adequacy of the different mechanisms as regards to characteristics of M2M and IoT.
Amendment 155 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 5
Article 8 – paragraph 5
5. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 shall continue to apply until the entry into force of a new implementing act adopted pursuant to paragraph 1. Providers shall gradually phase out the general application of fair use policy, which can only be applied when anomalous or abusive use of wholesale roaming access, permanent roaming or justified fraudulent practices are observed.
Amendment 158 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c
(c) the quality of service that can reasonably be expected when roaming in the Union. Quality of service shall be recognized as an important element for consumers, and where appropriate for operators, consumers shall be offered available information on relevant factors that can affect the quality of service when using applications and services especially if they are primarily subject to certain QoS limitations. As an addition and where available, operators could provide consumers with links to reliable local sources related to the current weather conditions, traffic information and potential general/public health threads and restrictions.
Amendment 164 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1
Article 12 – paragraph 1
1. The average wholesale charge that the visited network operator may levy on the roaming provider for the provision of regulated data roaming services by means of that visited network shall not exceed a safeguard limit of EUR 21,00 per gigabyte of data transmitted. That maximum wholesale charge shall gradually decrease to EUR 1,50 per gigabyte of data transmitted on 1 January 20250,90 per gigabyte of data transmitted on 1 January 2023 and to EUR 0,70 per gigabyte of data transmitted on 1 January 2024. On 1 January 2025 the maximum average wholesale charge shall decrease to EUR 0,60 per gigabyte and shall, without prejudice to Articles 21, 22 and 23 remain at EUR 1,50,60 per gigabyte of data transmitted until 30 June 2032 .
Amendment 173 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Without prejudice to Articles 10, 11 and 12, the visited network operator shall not levy on the roaming provider any charge related to theall types of emergency communications initiated by the roaming customer and the transmission of caller location information.(calls and emergency SMS messages) agreed between the roaming provider and the visited network operator and initiated by the roaming customer and the transmission of caller location information. All clearly identifiable means of emergency services shall be provided without any additional charges
Amendment 179 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Roaming providers shall, except when the roaming customer has notified the roaming provider that he does not require this service, provide the customer, automatically by means of a Message Service, without undue delay and free of charge, when the roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of his domestic provider, with information on the potential risk of increased charges due to the use of value added services including a link to a dedicated webpage hosted by BEREC providing information about the types of services that may be subject to increased costs and, if available, information on value added services number ranges.
Amendment 181 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. The Commission shall introduce a rule that value-added services must cost the same for roaming consumers as nationals of that EU/EEA country.
Amendment 182 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. The Commission shall further assess the possibility of opt-in requirement to swift and clear minimum information requirements for where appropriate also warning messages and cut-off limits to avoid bill shocks.
Amendment 196 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 2
Article 16 – paragraph 2
An automatic message from the roaming provider shall inform the roaming customer that the latter may access emergency services free of charge by calling the single European emergency number ‘112’ and by alternative means of access to emergency services through emergency communications mandated in the visited Member State. The information shall be delivered to the roaming customer’s mobile device by an SMS message, every time the roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of his domestic provider. The SMS shall contain a link to a dedicated webpage serving as a central information point where BEREC would provide regularly updated database. It shall be provided free of charge at the moment the roaming customer initiates a roaming service, by an appropriate means adapted to facilitate its receipt and easy comprehension.
Amendment 210 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – introductory part
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – introductory part
new1. The Commission shall , after consulting BEREC, submit twobiennial reports to the European Parliament and to the Council. Where necessary, after submitting each report, the Commission shall adopsubmit a delegated act pursuant to Article 22 amending the maximum wholesale charges for regulated roaming services laid down inislative proposal to amend this Regulation. The first such report shall be submitted by 30 June 2025 and the second by 30 June 2029 .
Amendment 213 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – subparagraph 1 – point a
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – subparagraph 1 – point a
(a) the availability and quality of services, including those which are an alternative to regulated retail voice, SMS and data roaming services, in particular in the light of technological developments and of the access to the different network technologies and generations ; in particular the access to next generation connectivity and modern technologies;
Amendment 218 #
(b) the degree of competition in both the retail and wholesale roaming markets, in particular the actual wholesale rates paid by the operators and the competitive situation of small, independent or newly started operators, and MVNOs and providers of pan-European Internet of Things, including the competition effects of commercial agreements, of traffic traded on trading platforms and similar instruments and the degree of interconnection between operators;
Amendment 219 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – subparagraph 1 – point c
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – subparagraph 1 – point c
(c) the evolution of roaming for the machine-to- machine roamingand Internet of Things services ;
Amendment 232 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. In order to assess competitive developments in the Union-wide roaming markets, BEREC shall collect data regularly from national regulatory authorities on developments in retail and wholesale charges for regulated voice, SMS and data roaming services, including wholesale charges applied for balanced and unbalanced roaming traffic respectively , on the use of trading platforms and similar instruments, on the development of machine-to-machine roaming and Internet of Things, and on the extent to which wholesale roaming agreements cover quality of service and give access to different network technologies and generations. BEREC shall also collect data regularly from national regulatory authorities on the application of fair use policy by operators, the developments of domestic-only tariffs, the application of the sustainability mechanisms and complaints on roaming. When consulted pursuant to paragraph 1, BEREC shall collect and provide additional information on transparency, the application of measures on emergency communication and on value added services .
Amendment 235 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Those data shall be notified to the Commission at least ontwice a year. The Commission shall make them public.
Amendment 236 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22
Article 22
Amendment 246 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23
Article 23
Amendment 254 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex I
Annex I