EU member states on Wednesday proposed to postpone scrapping mobile roaming charges by three years until 2018 at least.

At present, mobile phone customers in the EU face extra roaming charges for calls, text messages or internet usage in member states other than their own. 

The 28-nation European Union has been cutting the charges in response to complaints from customers. The European Parliament last year approved a package that would have abolished the charges altogether from the end of 2015, reflecting the widespread push for a European digital single market.

Now, the European Council has decided to send the package back to Parliament for further consideration, saying that a new pricing mechanism, to be introduced from mid-2016, should lead to lower costs for consumers.

"Within certain limits to be determined, consumers could make and receive calls, send SMSs and use data services without paying anything extra on top of the domestic fee. Once this basic roaming allowance is used up, the operator may charge a fee but this fee will be much lower than current charges," the European Council said in a statement.

As the next step, the European Commission will be asked to assess by mid-2018 what further measures may be needed with a view to phasing out roaming charges.

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