Mobile phone roaming charges fell from July 1st
after a European parliament vote.
The cuts are the latest step towards a European commission goal of reducing the gap between
domestic and foreign call rates to virtually nothing by 2015.
The cost of making a mobile call in Europe has
dropped from about 30p a minute to 24p, while the cost of sending a text
dropped to 7p. Overall, the commission say roaming costs have fallen by up to
75% since the campaign began in 2007.
Under the new rules, applicable from July 2012, businesses
and consumers travelling in another EU country will pay no more than:
• 29 euro cents (24p) a minute to make a call.
• 8 cents (7p) a minute to receive a call.
• 9 cents (7p) to send a text message.
As well as further reducing the cost of making calls
from abroad and receiving calls from home, there will be a cut to the price of
"data roaming", when travellers want to download information from the
internet.
• 70 cents a megabyte (58p) to download data or
browse the internet, charged by the kilobyte used.
As was the case already, network
operators will still send warning messages to customers when their bill for
internet use approaches €50 (£40).
All
networks are now promoting a series of ‘bundled’ deals which in many cases will
prove even better value for money.
We do
however strongly recommend you establish what options are best suited to your
own typical roaming usage.
Andrew Edgar
Managing Director
8020 Ltd
01387 250008
