Expensive EU roaming will be history this July
- Transfer
The European Commission’s quest to put an end to “roaming fees” for text messages and data transfer occurring while roaming in the EU has come to a triumphant end.
A proposal by the European Commission ( PDF is available here ) to limit text roaming rates and wholesale data rates was approved by the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in December, and was approved by the European Parliament on April 21.
The average price for a text message while roaming in the EU is now € 0.29; Under new agreements, on July 1, it will drop to € 0.11 (translator's note: this is without VAT) , and wholesale prices for data transfer in roaming will be limited to € 1 per megabyte.
In addition, Parliament went further and proposed further restrictions for roaming voice calls. Outgoing calls will drop from € 0.46 per minute to € 0.35 per minute, and incoming calls from € 0.22 per minute to € 0.11 per minute. Call-by-second measurement of call duration is also mandatory to prevent expensive rounding.
European Commissioner Vivian Reading says updated laws will save consumers more than 60% of their roaming accounts.
A proposal by the European Commission ( PDF is available here ) to limit text roaming rates and wholesale data rates was approved by the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in December, and was approved by the European Parliament on April 21.
The average price for a text message while roaming in the EU is now € 0.29; Under new agreements, on July 1, it will drop to € 0.11 (translator's note: this is without VAT) , and wholesale prices for data transfer in roaming will be limited to € 1 per megabyte.
In addition, Parliament went further and proposed further restrictions for roaming voice calls. Outgoing calls will drop from € 0.46 per minute to € 0.35 per minute, and incoming calls from € 0.22 per minute to € 0.11 per minute. Call-by-second measurement of call duration is also mandatory to prevent expensive rounding.
European Commissioner Vivian Reading says updated laws will save consumers more than 60% of their roaming accounts.