Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 March 2017
752. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his attention has been drawn to the derogation that has been given to mobile phone operators which allows them to preclude data costs from the EU roaming directives; his views on whether this is against the spirit and intention of the proposal; if he has had any discussions with ComReg on the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11722/17]
View answerEU "Roam Like at Home" (RLAH) will give Irish and EU consumers the ability to use their mobile devices, within other EU countries, at domestic rates, subject to Fair Use Policy, from 15 June 2017. Throughout negotiations at EU level on this initiative, Ireland has been fully supportive of the Roam Like at Home principle, and, in particular, the importance of obtaining a sustainable agreement for business and consumers alike. I would expect all mobile operators to be fully compliant with Irish EU legislation, including RLAH from 15 June 2017.
The Irish Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, is the competent statutorily independent regulatory authority for Telecoms and as such will be the authority which will regulate the Roam Like At Home regime in Ireland from 15 June 2017. ComReg has informed me that it has not issued any derogations in the manner referred to by the Deputy nor do they have the power to do so under existing legislation. The new EU rules clearly cover data services, along with voice and SMS. There is no exemption for the data services, only exceptional limits in cases of unlimited or very competitive offers.
It would be inappropriate for me to comment any further on matters which are independently regulated by ComReg. ComReg will have a role in scrutinising all existing and new mobile market offerings to ensure full legal and regulatory compliance.
