European deal set to reduce roaming charges

The European Commission and European Parliament have reached a preliminary deal which will see a cap put on data roaming costs.

The deal would also see the prices of texts and calls reduced.

The proposals are expected to be approved by the European Parliament in May and take effect in July.

Under the new rules consumers will pay no more than (excl. VAT):

29 cents per minute to make a call,

8 cents per minute to receive a call,

9 cents to send a text message

70 cents per Megabyte (MB) to download data or browse the internet.

These regulated price caps will progressively go down so that by 1 July 2014, roaming consumers will be paying no more than 19 cents per minute to make a call, a maximum 5 cents per minute to receive a call, maximum 6 cents to send a text message and maximum 20 cents per MB to download data or browse the Internet whilst travelling abroad.

Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda, said: “Consumers are fed up with being ripped off by high roaming charges.

“The new roaming deal gives us a long-term structural solution, with lower prices, more choice and a new smart approach for data and Internet browsing.

“The benefits will be felt in time for the summer break - and by summer 2014, people can shop around for the best deal."