EU caps data roaming charges

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 26 Mar 2009 at 10:43

The EU has announced that from July 2009 the wholesale per-megabyte rate for roaming mobile-data use across Europe will be capped at one euro plus VAT.

The wholesale rate represents the price an operator can charge another operator when a customer roams onto its network.

The cut is actually steeper than initially envisioned by EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding, and will fall again to 80 cents from July 2010 and to 50 cents from July 2011.

"Commissioner Reding left the meeting saying this is a victory for European consumers and for the European single telecoms market," says her spokesperson.

EU regulators say they want to end "bill shock" when business travellers or holidaymakers return home to huge charges for checking emails or surfing the web while away.

The law also caps the price to consumers of roamed text messages and extends by three years to June 2012 current EU price limits on roamed voice calls.

The European Parliament and EU states struck a deal on the measure at a meeting in Strasbourg, France, and parliament will endorse the agreement next month.