DRAFT TRADE (MOBILE ROAMING) REGULATIONS 2023

Julia Lopez Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2023 General Committees

[The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Julia Lopez)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Trade (Mobile Roaming) Regulations 2023.

I thank you, Sir George, for chairing the debate and hon. Members for the extremely impressive turnout today. I am pleased to move the regulations, which were laid before the House in draft form on 15 December 2022.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology —DSIT—now has telecoms in its remit. I am a Minister in the Department for Culture, Media and Support—DCMS—but for the sake of continuity I shall take this legislation forward today. It represents a world first in international trade: the UK-Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein free trade agreement contains the world’s first provisions regulating mobile roaming charges. Many recent free trade agreements mention mobile roaming, but provisions in those agreements talk of co-operating or even endeavouring to co-operate. This FTA takes a further step, ensuring the regulation of charges in order to make a real difference to Britons travelling overseas, and we believe it is an example of the innovative trade deals we can strike that will bring real benefit to British travellers.

The regulations are necessary to implement domestically the UK’s international obligations under the terms of the agreement. Technically, the legislation implements the agreement’s provisions that regulate international mobile roaming wholesale charges. As hon. Members will appreciate, wholesale charges are what mobile operators charge each other, as distinct from retail charges, which are what they charge their customers. The wholesale charges that Norwegian and Icelandic mobile operators can charge UK operators will be capped by their domestic legislation. The legislation we are debating today will cap the charges that UK operators can apply to Norwegian and Icelandic mobile operators. The caps cover wholesale charges for mobile data, voice calls and text messages, and we expect the savings to be passed on to consumers in the form of surcharge-free roaming.

Although the regulation of wholesale charges in the agreement is with a view to facilitating surcharge-free roaming for British consumers in Norway and Iceland, it will not apply to Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein decided to opt out, given its operators’ commercial relationships with Switzerland. Owing to its topography and limited geographical area, a significant part of its territory is co-supplied by masts in neighbouring Switzerland. The legislation also ensures that Ofcom has the power to enforce the caps on wholesale charges.

Before debating the detail of the regulations, I want to quickly cover an issue that might prompt questions from hon. Members: the agreement’s coverage of wholesale, rather than retail, charges. The reason the agreement covers wholesale and not retail is that wholesale charges have to be covered by an international agreement. Wholesale charges are a cross-border issue, so an international agreement is required to cover them, and UK legislation alone cannot bind the charges of Icelandic or Norwegian operators. The parties concluded that the agreement should only cover wholesale, because that has to be covered by international agreement. The fact that it does not cover retail reflects a light-touch regulatory approach, and we think this will ensure that UK operators are protected from high wholesale charges and that they will subsequently pass on savings to their consumers. However, let me be very clear: one of the key publicly stated achievements on the face of the FTA was to keep costs low for holidaymakers and business travellers. The Government are committed to delivering that aim, and we expect those cost savings to be passed on. If they are not, we have the capacity to intervene.

As I say, we believe that the legislation represents a world first in a free trade agreement, and it is a promising precedent for the future. I expect the regulations to make a real difference to Britons travelling overseas, and I commend them to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Julia Lopez]

I thank the hon. Lady for her warm support of this particular legislation. It has been a pleasure debating with her today and I thank her for her comments.

I do not intend to reinvestigate Brexit, but we put forward proposals during the negotiations with the EU to try and get this legislation applied to our relationships with other EU countries. The hon. Lady asked about whether we intend to try and bake this into future free trade agreements. I cannot speak for the Department for Business and Trade, as it is now known. It is a great roadmap, put forward within the Department’s negotiations with the European Free Trade Association nations, and I anticipate we will see similar provisions, given that I suspect this will be warmly welcomed by consumers in all affected countries.

The hon. Lady asked about social tariffs. We agree on how important they are, as an innovation that came about during the pandemic when we worked closely with the mobile network operators. I hosted a roundtable with them to see what more we could do as a team to try and make sure there is awareness of those tariffs, which is currently very low. People on universal credit can get very low rates on their broadband and telecoms packages, with very good high-speed connections for something like £10, and they should be aware of that. We are working closely with the mobile network operators to try and improve the communications and with the Department for Work and Pensions to make sure eligibility can be proven quickly.

I am happy to continue discussions with the hon. Lady on how we can improve the situation for consumers and get elements such as those being debated today into future free trade agreements so we can continue to benefit travellers, customers and businesses when they go abroad.

--- Later in debate ---

[Julia Lopez]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his extremely uplifting contribution to the debate.

[John Nicolson]

You can always rely on me.

[Julia Lopez]

I know. I have covered some of the questions in relation to wholesale and retail charging, but I appreciate the concerns that have been raised about that. It is on the face of the free trade agreement that the intention of the legislation is to reduce prices for consumers, and I hope that will give a level of reassurance in that regard.

As I have said, we are trying to get a light-touch regulatory approach. We think it is in the interests of mobile network operators to pass those savings on to consumers, but we will consider intervening if that is not the case. Ofcom is also doing a bit of work on data roaming, which relates to one of the points raised by the hon. Member for Pontypridd, in relation to transparency of charging.

I hope the regulations will be entirely welcomed and I commend them to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.