EU ABOLISHES ROAMING CHARGES

[abc]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36171266

Well done EU for helping save the public millions of pounds annually.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Have you replied to any of the arguments yet in the EU thread?

Anyway this old recycled story that gets thrown up every so often, so easy to debunk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36171266

The controls on charges are being introduced under an EU regulation - not a directive - which means they have not been specifically incorporated into UK law.

So if the UK voted to leave the EU, it could decide whether it wanted to keep them or not.

The Vote Leave campaign said the UK would be able to retain the price caps if it wanted to.

"These charges are being abolished across Europe and abroad. There is no evidence to suggest that they will go up if we vote leave," said Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave.

In addition to this, roaming charges are now being abolished across the globe: this isn't unique to the EU or Europe.

http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/..._we_vote_leave

- Roaming charges are being abolished for those travelling to countries outside the EU. As the Government has argued, this is in the commercial interests of mobile phone companies.

- The mobile network Three has abolished roaming charges for customers visiting the United States of America, under its ‘feel at home’ scheme: ‘This means you can use your device there at no extra cost’ (Three, 2016, link). The scheme extends to Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Sri Lanka, Macau, Hong Kong and Indonesia (Three, 2016, link).

- Lycamobile has scrapped roaming charges for customers visiting Australia, Hong Kong, and the USA (Lycamobile, 2016, link).

- As the Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy, Ed Vaizey MP, has said: ‘we have individual companies in effect abolishing them for their customers and using them to give them a competitive advantage in attracting customers… If consumers feel that they can use their phone as they would domestically, they will keep their phone on, avoid their family and spend the entire time watching videos on YouTube and Twitter. There are plenty of estimates that show that over the next 10 years the abolition of roaming charges could see a net increase in revenues for telecoms companies’ (Evidence to European Union Committee, 7 September 2015, link).

Even if it was just the EU (it is not) and you had to be in the EU to abolish them (again, not) it wouldn't justify staying in and being governed from abroad.

[Absently]

i've been looking forward to when they're abolished completely. i used to be on EE and because i go home every so often i used to not be able to use my phone due to the charges or if i did i'd be charged quite a lot. although, 3 already provides data roaming for free across quite a lot of countries which is great for when i go home!!

[-:Undertaker:-]

i've been looking forward to when they're abolished completely. i used to be on EE and because i go home every so often i used to not be able to use my phone due to the charges or if i did i'd be charged quite a lot. although, 3 already provides data roaming for free across quite a lot of countries which is great for when i go home!!

problem is or rather natural business instinct they'll just recoup any losses on overseas by increasing domestic prices

[The Don]

Have you replied to any of the arguments yet in the EU thread?

Anyway this old recycled story that gets thrown up every so often, so easy to debunk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36171266



In addition to this, roaming charges are now being abolished across the globe: this isn't unique to the EU or Europe.

http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/..._we_vote_leave



Even if it was just the EU (it is not) and you had to be in the EU to abolish them (again, not) it wouldn't justify staying in and being governed from abroad.

You haven't debunked anything? All you've done is parrot the rest of the leave camp and said "well we could do this without being in the EU". Just because something could be done outside of the EU doesn't mean it would. They actually did it, so how about giving credit where it's due?

[-:Undertaker:-]

You haven't debunked anything? All you've done is parrot the rest of the leave camp and said "well we could do this without being in the EU". They actually did it, so how about giving credit where it's due?

That's what the BBC said actually, not the Leave campaign.

Just because something could be done outside of the EU doesn't mean it would.

That's called democracy.

[lawrawrrr]

A while back EE dropped their charges but it just seemed so weird to be using my phone like normal there so I just kept it turned off the whole time still (apart from wifi)... it just feels wrong

as for the whole EU thing, the UK could decide to get rid of the caps if we were to leave the EU? It wouldn't make much business sense if we're one of the only developed countries with the cap still. Doesn't surprise me both camps will be using it as ammunition though...

[The Don]

That's called democracy.

Other than being a buzzword that has nothing to do with my previous post, what has democracy got to do with you blindly assuming the UK would remove roaming charges outside the EU?

A while back EE dropped their charges but it just seemed so weird to be using my phone like normal there so I just kept it turned off the whole time still (apart from wifi)... it just feels wrong

as for the whole EU thing, the UK could decide to get rid of the caps if we were to leave the EU? It wouldn't make much business sense if we're one of the only developed countries with the cap still. Doesn't surprise me both camps will be using it as ammunition though...

Because the EU actually removed them? Any guesses as to what the UK would have done outside the EU is a... guess?

[lawrawrrr]

Other than being a buzzword that has nothing to do with my previous post, what has democracy got to do with you blindly assuming the UK would remove roaming charges outside the EU?



Because the EU actually removed them? Any guesses as to what the UK would have done outside the EU is a... guess?

Huh? All I'm saying is that if we were to leave the EU it wouldn't make much business sense to reverse the decision to implement the caps but I may be misunderstanding your post?

[-:Undertaker:-]

Other than being a buzzword that has nothing to do with my previous post, what has democracy got to do with you blindly assuming the UK would remove roaming charges outside the EU?

Because my friend as I point out time and time again whenever a policy is enacted - for good or bad depending on who you ask - that decision should be made by our elected representatives in our accountable parliament. Then, at election time, we can either throw them out if we do not like it or reward them if we do like that said policy. The constitutional principle that no government can bind its successor is at the heart of democracy and one which EU membership destroys.

If Britons want to abolish roaming charges (we have not actually been asked) then fine. That's a decision for Parliament, not one to be imposed on us.

Because the EU actually removed them? Any guesses as to what the UK would have done outside the EU is a... guess?

@lawrawrrr;

He's just trying to do that "ooOoOoo scary if we weren't inside the EU cos lyke unknown" thing when everything you said made economic and political sense.

Indeed if he'd have read the press release and the article it is clear HM Government is fully behind this price cap so you could even argue we'd have been able to do it possibly faster than the EU has given how slow and sluggish the bureacratic machinery in Brussels functions. Either way, it's certain it'd be enacted.