Roaming charges slashed for good

FINALLY A LAW is being put in place that will actually cut costs and help people – wonders never cease.

The legislation being steamrollered through by our favourite European Commissioner Viviane Reding will rip into the cost of using your mobile phone abroad could become law by next July.

Since the release of SIM4travel announced by the INQ earlier this year, the EU parliament is pushing for roaming costs to be cut not just on voice calls but on text and data transfers as well.

If plans go ahead the cost of sending an SMS will eventually fall by around 60 percent from 23 pence to just nine.

Voice calls will also be cheaper falling from 36 pence to 27 pence as well as the option to limit data downloads.

Since the call caps put in place last year, reluctant mobile phone companies are limited to charging a maximum of 34 pence a minute for making calls and 17 pence for receiving one.

EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding plans to enforce these new regulations – last year she pushed for mobile companies to cap charges abroad voluntarily before facing limits put in place by the EU.

Ms Reding set the industry a deadline of 1 July to fall into line, as yet, no agreement has been reached.

So, she has put her foot down stating that, "We have to do it [regulation] top down from Brussels in the interests of consumers."

She added that the 2.5 billion SMS, worth 800m euros sent every year by roaming customers in EU countries were costing 10 times more than domestic messaging.

That’s a difference between a French customer sending a message from Italy for 0.30 euros while a Latvian could pay as much as 0.70 euros. µ

L'Inq
BBC