Commission boosts connectivity: more attractive intra-EU communications tariffs made available

Price differences for calls and SMS made from one Member State - the consumer's home country - to another may be removed by providers as the Commission today adopted the first implementing act on intra-EU communications based on Article 5a of the Open Internet Regulation (OIR), as modified by the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA).

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Thanks to the implementing act, it will be easier for providers to charge consumers the same retail prices for intra-EU communications as for domestic communications. The implementing regulation defines both the technical conditions for the voluntary tariffs as well as anti-fraud measures.

In particular, providers will be able to apply the domestic retail price to a volume of intra-EU communications in line with typical use as defined in the implementing act. As a safeguard, providers may charge intra-EU communications that exceed such typical use at a higher retail price, which will not be subject to the regulated price caps.

This voluntary policy is a first step in the process towards a possible phase out of consumer retail price differences between domestic and intra-EU communications.

Read more information:

• The Implementing Act on intra-EU communications
• The Open Internet Regulation (OIR)
• The Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA)

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