Price caps for intra-EU communications

Sorry to mention Brexit! But as there's so little information available concerning the effects that Brexit will have on communications services, we thought it would be useful to publish some blog posts about any industry news or information that we receive.

The United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on 29th March 2019, the transition (or implementation) period is expected to last for 21 months. During the transition period, EU law will continue to apply in the UK.

Retail price caps for Calls and SMS

New EU rules on retail price caps for intra-EU communications are being introduced and come into effect on the 15th May 2019. The price cap will apply to fixed numbers, mobile numbers and SMS.

What are the price caps?

The price caps mean that consumers will be charged no more than €0.19 per minute (including any connection charge) for calls made from the UK to any fixed or mobile number in an EU Member State.

For SMS, the price cap has been set to €0.06 for an SMS sent from the UK to any fixed or mobile number in an EU Member State.

This tariff must be applied automatically to all consumers of fixed and mobile telecoms services unless they deliberately choose an alternative tariff.
Before consumers choose an alternative tariff, the service provider must inform them of any advantages that would be lost by using another tariff.

Who do the price caps apply to?

The price caps apply to all providers of ‘regulated intra-EU communications’ and apply to ‘consumers’. The term ‘consumer’ is defined as any natural person who uses or requests a publicly available electronic communications service for purposes which are outside his or her trade, business or profession.