The virtual operator Digi Mobil, managed by Digi Italia, has received a new authorization from AGCOM, with which it will also be able to apply a roaming surcharge to communication services in European Union countries for the next 12 months, therefore until the end of December 2025. The latest news about Digi Mobil Italia roaming surcharges find out below.

The Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) communicated this with resolution 506/24/CONS, published today, 20 December 2024, but whose document dates back to 18 December 2024, thanks to which the new authorization was granted to the Italian virtual operator of the Digi Group.

By doing so, Digi Mobil will be able to continue to apply a surcharge to the retail tariffs applied to its international roaming customers within the EU, under Article 6, paragraph 1, of the new EU Regulation no. 2022/612, i.e. the new European roaming regulation that came into force on 1 July 2022.

Last year, with a resolution 274/23/CONS published on 16 November 2023, Digi Mobil was authorized by AGCOM to apply EU roaming surcharges for another 12 months, therefore until 15 November 2024.

According to the new resolution of AGCOM published in the last few hours, Digi Italy, the company that manages Digi Mobil, has submitted a new request for authorization to AGCOM as early as October 23, 2024, to renew the application of a surcharge to Roaming services in the EU.

Subsequently, AGCOM sent a request for clarification on 13 November 2024, which was responded to by the operator on 26 November 2024, while further additions were sent with the note of 3 December 2024.

How the EU Roaming Regulation Exceptions Rules Work

First of all, it should be remembered that the previous European Regulation  Roaming Like at Home  (RLAH), which expired on 30 June 2022, also provided for exceptions for specific circumstances for the use of one’s national roaming offer in EU countries under the same domestic conditions, to ensure the sustainability of the business model of less large and structured operators.

However, to authorize an operator to apply an EU roaming surcharge, the Authority (AGCOM) must ascertain that the net negative margin generated by retail roaming services is equal to or greater than 3% of the margin generated by mobile services.

Surcharges may be authorized only to the extent necessary to recover the costs of providing regulated retail roaming services, taking into account the maximum applicable wholesale charges.

As AGCOM also recalls, the same dynamic was then confirmed by the new EU regulation 2022/612, which substantially recast the previous EU regulation no. 531/2012, which was therefore repeated.

Over the years, thanks to this regulation, Digi Italy has obtained 7 authorizations, which, overall, have allowed the operator to apply surcharges on retail tariffs for the period between July 2017 and November 2024.

The Authority specifies that the autorizable surcharge cannot in any case be higher than the maximum applicable wholesale prices, defined by the European regulation on roaming.

In particular, the maximum rates are currently equal to 2.2 euro cents per minute for making calls in roaming, reduced to 1.9 euro cents per minute starting from 1 January 2025, 0.40 euro cents for each SMS, reduced to 0.3 euro cents for each SMS starting from 1 January 2025, and for data services, 1.55 euro per gigabyte until 31 December 2024 and 1.30 euro per gigabyte from 1 January 2025.

AGCOM reauthorizes Digi Mobil: here are the new EU Roaming surcharge thresholds

The Authority, based on the new documentation analyzed, found that Digi Italy is unable to recover the costs incurred for the provision of retail roaming services with Digi Mobil, the negative margin of which cannot be absorbed by the mobile services margin.

AGCOM therefore deemed that Digi Italy‘s new request submitted in October 2024 was acceptable, thus allowing the virtual operator Digi Mobil to be authorized to apply surcharges to roaming services for another 12 months, as provided for by the roaming regulation.

In particular, Digi Mobil Italia has been authorized to apply EU roaming surcharges for 12 months starting from the date of publication of resolution 506/24/CONS, therefore more or less until 20 December 2025.

The Authority always emphasizes that the decision to apply surcharges, authorized at a lower rate than the maximum, falls under the full responsibility of Digi Mobil.

With the new authorization, the maximum surcharge thresholds that Digi Mobil will be able to apply for the next 12 months are the following: 1.10 euro cents (VAT excluded) per minute for calls (outgoing); 0.15 euro cents (VAT excluded) for SMS (outgoing); 0.26 euro (VAT excluded) for each gigabyte of data traffic.

The Authority recalls that surcharges may be authorized only to the extent necessary to recover the costs of providing regulated retail roaming services, taking into account the maximum applicable wholesale charges.

As usual, Digi Mobil will have to provide customers traveling to one of the EU countries with timely information regarding the surcharges applied by sending a specific personalized SMS.

The same information must also be provided on the website and through the operator’s usual communication channels, and to update customers without delay regarding any subsequent changes in the rates applied.