BRUSSELS: The EU scrapped Wednesday a 90-day limit to its landmark free mobile phone roaming policy, promising checks to curb abuse after the initial plan ran into fierce criticism. The commission announced the original “free roaming” plans with huge fanfare in early 2015, but when it unveiled the details earlier this month consumer groups were outraged by a limit of 90 days of free roaming per year. They had assumed the Commission’s pledge to end mobile roaming charges—additional costs when people use their phone outside their home country—meant exactly that, without conditions or caveats. Instead of time limits, the new Commission proposal will allow operators to crackdown on people whose phone usage abroad “significantly” outweighs their domestic calls. It will also allow mobile operators to cancel SIM cards found to be used almost exclusively abroad.

Source: Manila Times September 21, 2016 11:37 UTC