EU lawmakers want to scrap roaming fees by 2015 -- EU paper

European Union lawmakers want to scrap mobile phone roaming charges by 2015 and to prevent telecoms network operators from charging companies such as Google and Amazon to provide faster web services, EU documents show.

The proposals from the European Parliament's industry committee go far beyond European Telecoms Commissioner Neelie Kroes's plans to overhaul the EU telecoms industry, which include ending roaming fees by 2016. The plans come as Europe's telecoms providers struggle to lift their revenues, down for the fifth consecutive year. "With effect from 15 December 2015, roaming providers shall not levy any surcharge in comparison to the charges for mobile communications services at domestic level on roaming customers in any member states for any regulated roaming call made or received," the committee said. It said roaming charges for sending text messages and for using any regulated data roaming services should also be phased out by the same deadline.