Millions of mobile phone users across the European Union (EU) are set to benefit from fast-tracked reforms of telecoms regulation, which include an end to roaming charges.
The 27 European Commissioners voted on Tuesday in Brussels to end all roaming fees for voice calls, texts and internet access, as the EC aims to create a single European telecoms market.
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The aim is to ensure that the new regulations are put together before the European elections in May next year, and come into force as soon as 1 July 2014.
Speaking to the Telegraph, a Brussels source said: "They agreed that this time next year we will have got rid of these charges."
Officials will draw up and publish detailed proposals in the next six weeks. The move is likely to hit operators' revenues in the short term, but will also open up opportunities to compete for subscribers across Europe.
The reforms come nearly a year after an EU report claimed that caps on pricing for mobile phone and data services across the EU would save the typical business more than €1,000 a year over the next 10 years.
In January, CISO of Field Fisher Waterhouse Tracey Andrew told a panel at Infosecurity Europe 2013 that with the rise of bring your own device (BYOD) schemes across companies, the issue of roaming charges is constantly debated.
"Who picks up the cost for roaming is an ongoing debate. If it's a corporate device, it's easy: it gets billed to us. But with BYOD we would have to find a compromise," he said.
The new legislation would seemingly eradicate the need for that debate.
