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End of 'roaming rip-off': cost of texting, calling, surfing the web abroad to plummet thanks to EU action
Euro MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new ruling regarding the pricing of roaming mobile phone calls and data costs in the European union.
From the first of July roaming charges abroad reduced to 0.11 Euros per minute and with downloads capped at 1 Euro per megabyte. This will bring an end to the era of ‘Billshock’ for mobile bills where customers return home to find unexpected high charges for using their mobile abroad. In one previous example a German user was charges 46,000 Euros for downloading a TV episode in France.
The EU first acted on roaming in 2007 reducing the cost of voice roaming calls by 70%.
"From the 1 July, 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 thanks to the determined action of the European Commission, the European Parliament and all 27 EU Member States, 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."
A full list of new roaming charges and caps is available here
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