Mobile roaming charges within the EU drop by 36%

Over the past six years there has been enforced capping on the charges on mobile operator fees, yet despite that, if you were not careful you could come back from holiday with a telephone bill bigger than the cost of getting away in the EU.

As of today (1st July) more than a third of the cost is to be slashed thanks to new EU limits agreed earlier this year. That means that overall costs on SMS and data will be 80% less than they were in 2007.

Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said:

“The EU has to be relevant to people’s lives. The latest price cuts put more money in your pocket for summer, and are a critical step towards getting rid of these premiums once and for all. This is good for both consumers and companies, because it takes fear out of the market, and it grows the market.”

The cost of data is capped at 45 cents (38p) and charges can never be more than 50 euros per month on data used abroad.

The reduction extends to receiving and making calls and receiving and sending text messages. Calls are now 24 cents (20p) per minute plus VAT to make and 7 cents (4p) per minute to receive. A standard text message is now 8 cents (5p).

There’s even more good news when in 2014 rates drop even further.

The bad news is that these reductions only apply within the EU. In other countries you can still expect to see charges of £1.50 per minute make a call.

Sure fire ways to avoid roaming charges:

• Contact the network operator to find out about bundles. These often offer cheaper tariffs.
• Use Wi-Fi when its available.
• Turn off auto-updates of apps or retrieving emails to avoid unnecessary downloads.
• Buy a local SIM card.
• And if you are able to forgo the internet on your phone, turn off data roaming completely.

Have you ever had a nasty surprise when getting back from holiday and seeing a huge mobile phone bill? Leave a comment