Cheaper European roaming SMS and surfing on the way

Holidays abroad in the EU get a boost from cheaper roaming charges

The European Parliament is expected to drastically reduce SMS and data roaming charges, with a plenary vote tomorrow expected to rubber-stamp the proposals broadly supported by the EU's 27 telecoms ministers last November.

Visitors to mainland Europe after 1 July will see the benefit of the new roaming rules which will cap the price of sending a text message at €0.11 (9p, current average is €0.29), and also cap the wholesale price of mobile data downloads at €1 per megabyte downloaded.

If carried, the vote will also reduce caps for mobile roaming calls, from €46 down to €40 for calls made abroad, and from €22 to €19 for calls received. Further reductions in 2010 will see the charge for calls made drop to €39, and for calls received to €15. In 2011 the charges will drop further to €35 and €11 for calls made and received respectively.

Per-second billing will also be introduced for roamed calls, rather than per minute, which the EU says means consumers pay about 20 per cent more than the minutes they actually use.