European roamers get cheaper calls, data

From Wednesday this week, European consumers will see the cost of making a call, sending a text message, or downloading data while overseas slashed.

As of July 1, a text message sent from abroad in the EU will cost no more than €0.11 instead of €0.28 today, and the wholesale price of data will be capped at €1 per MB, compared to an average wholesale price of €1.68 per MB. The wholesale cap will fall to €0.80 in 2010 and to €0.50 in 2011.

Consumers will also benefit from further cuts in the price of mobile phone calls while roaming in another EU country. A roamed call made in another EU country must not cost more than €0.43 per minute, and no more than €0.19 to receive. Outgoing roaming calls will also be charged by the second, after the first 30 seconds, rather than by the minute, and incoming calls will be charged by the second from the first second.

As a result of these adjustments, European consumers are expected to save up to 60 per cent on their bill for using a mobile phone abroad in the EU.

“From July 1, all Europeans making calls or sending texts with their mobiles can experience the EU’s single market without borders. The roaming-rip off is now coming to an end,” said EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding. “Expect the new EU roaming rules to make it much cheaper to surf the web on your mobile while abroad in the EU. For now, EU rules are limited to reducing inter-operator charges. I call on the mobile industry to pass these savings on to data roaming customers swiftly. The Commission and national regulators will monitor data roaming charges very carefully and assess next year whether the roaming market is finally becoming competitive.”