Negotiators between member states and the European Parliament reached an agreement on Thursday on a new roaming regulation, which will extend the current system of using mobile phones abroad without additional fees until 2032.

The current regulation is valid until June 30, 2022, and the new regulation extends the roaming-free system for the next ten years. The agreement has yet to be formally ratified by the Council and Parliament.

The Regulation on so-called “home roaming” has been in force since 15 June 2017, and it determines roaming prices on the basis of national prices. This means that every roaming customer in one of the EU countries and in the countries of the European Economic Area Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein pays for the services according to the tariff agreed with his domestic transport operator. After the UK left the European Union they also left this EU system, meaning higher charges when UK citizens come to the EU and vice versa.

The new regulation should provide users with the same quality of services they have in their home network when they are on the road. Those using 5G network services in their country should have access to that network wherever it is available. Under the new regulation, mobile operators will need to inform users about the quality of services they can expect when roaming. In the four and a half years since the current regulation came into force, many users have complained that they do not have the same quality of service when they are abroad.