File photo: Maridav/Deposit PhotosLong an important source of revenue for telecom companies, roaming charges will be lifted in Europe starting June 15, raising pressure on operators in a tight market. Roaming charges within and outside Europe account for an average of around five percent of sales for telephone operators in Europe, estimates Sylvain Chevallier of BearingPoint. It will be hard to tell exactly how much the move affects telecom operators since they no longer detail the revenues in their filings. The European Commission estimates the end of roaming fees will cost European telecom operators €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion). But the share of revenues from roaming charges already significantly declined in recent years as charges for calls and text messages dropped 90 percent since 2007 and data charges declined 96 percent since 2012 under EU regulations.

Source: The Local June 11, 2017 03:22 UTC