ACM imposes fine on Lycamobile for too high roaming tariffs

Telecom provider Lycamobile Distribution Limited (Lycamobile) charged its customers too high roaming costs. Customers that placed mobile calls, received mobile calls, or sent text messages when abroad (within the EU), thus paid too much for these services. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has therefore imposed fines on Lycamobile, totaling EUR 196,000 for charging tariffs that were used in 2011 and 2012. Lycamobile has already adjusted its methods. ACM was able to track down these violations because of reports that consumers had filed with its consumer information portal ConsuWijzer.

About the fine

The fine has been imposed on Lycamobile for its practices on the Dutch market. When determining the fine, ACM took into account the fact that Lycamobile fully cooperated with ACM’s investigation, and that Lycamobile has reimbursed, as much as possible, customers that had been harmed.

About roaming costs

Since April 30, 2016, new tariffs for using mobile phones abroad (within the EU) have come into effect. Customers pay the regular (domestic) tariffs of the Dutch provider. On top of these regular tariffs comes a roaming fee. The European Union has set what the maximum tariffs of these roaming fees can be. The ultimate goal of the European Union is to abolish all roaming tariffs completely.