The European Commission published a study assessing the cost for operators of providing wholesale roaming services in the EU.

The commission’s previously stated goal is to end roaming charges for consumers by mid-June 2017.

Today’s publication satisfies a mid-June deadline 2016 set by the EC to enable sufficient time for the whole process to be completed with European Parliament and Council support by next year’s deadline.

The study was carried out by Tera Consultants and spells out the methodology used to estimate the costs of providing wholesale roaming for voice, SMS and data services in the member states of EU, plus Norway.

Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, Guenther Oettinger, added: “We want to make sure that the end of roaming charges works properly for consumers and market players. This is why we come today with a proposal on wholesale roaming markets. We count now on the European Parliament and the Council to keep the pace and adopt it swiftly”.

An EC consultation published last month found “differing perceptions” among operators about how effectively the wholesale market for roaming services is working, as a group of smaller European operators and MVNOs argued significant price cuts are needed.