Because that company which is operating a network across several EU countries (which is one market) is, among other things, discriminating against users based on their location in the EU.
Remember that the EU was "born" with the main objective of creating a "single market" through the standardisation of laws across all member states.
Well, yes, if it's the same company across the different countries, but supposedly there will still be a lot of carriers that only serve a country or two, so roaming will still be common, no?
Essentially roaming disappears for everybody within the EU. Either because (i) if you are a large telco and your network has merged with other ones; (ii) if you are a small MVNO your network agreement subrogates to the new merged network.
Still, there is some lobby going on in the EU which wants to detach operators from the network, and make the network independent from everybody. NetCo + OpCo != TelCo.
I really hope this last scenario happens. But it's a bit of a utopia.
I expect they will do at the EU level what many countries already do internally: cheap "handoff" between operators (where one operator essentially becomes virtual in a zone where it has no physical coverage), so the user isn't impacted.
FWIW MVNO (operators with no physical network and leasing network time) are already very common in the EU.
Because if the EU becomes a single telco market there is no justification for intra-EU roaming fees: the market itself is the "home network" and roaming fees are specifically when the device is outside its home network.
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Why would they lose a lawsuit over it?
Because that company which is operating a network across several EU countries (which is one market) is, among other things, discriminating against users based on their location in the EU.
Remember that the EU was "born" with the main objective of creating a "single market" through the standardisation of laws across all member states.
Well, yes, if it's the same company across the different countries, but supposedly there will still be a lot of carriers that only serve a country or two, so roaming will still be common, no?
Essentially roaming disappears for everybody within the EU. Either because (i) if you are a large telco and your network has merged with other ones; (ii) if you are a small MVNO your network agreement subrogates to the new merged network.
Still, there is some lobby going on in the EU which wants to detach operators from the network, and make the network independent from everybody. NetCo + OpCo != TelCo.
I really hope this last scenario happens. But it's a bit of a utopia.
I expect they will do at the EU level what many countries already do internally: cheap "handoff" between operators (where one operator essentially becomes virtual in a zone where it has no physical coverage), so the user isn't impacted.
FWIW MVNO (operators with no physical network and leasing network time) are already very common in the EU.
Because if the EU becomes a single telco market there is no justification for intra-EU roaming fees: the market itself is the "home network" and roaming fees are specifically when the device is outside its home network.