Broadband News

The ‘bill shock’ often associated with a trip abroad could be eased from this July as new European rules are due to be put in place that will limit roaming charges to 1 Euro per Mb. Then, within two years, the legislation will impose a further cap on operators of 50 cents per Mb.

A spokesperson for the European Commissioner for Telecoms, Viviane Reding, described the new rules as a ‘victory for European consumers’ who it is widely believed have been charged roaming fees that are way above the actual cost incurred by operators.

Reding had already forced mobile operators to reduce roaming charges for voice calls in 2007 after they failed to voluntarily come up with a package of reductions. These voice roaming caps have now been extended until 2012 with the current cap of 45 cents per minute set to be reduced to 25 cents per minute by July 2011. Voice calls will also have to be billed by the second, although operators will be permitted to bill for a minimum of 30 seconds per call.

Texts, whilst roaming, are also set to be reduced significantly from an average of 29 cents per message today to an enforced cap of 11 cents from July.

Data costs can vary from one operator to another and can depend on which tariff and additional bundles a customer has signed up for. However, as a general idea, a person roaming abroad on their UK connected device can expect to pay between £1.50 to £2 per Mb within an international data roaming bundle allowance.

The cost has been reduced over the past year as the European Commission drew attention to the huge price of roaming data which previously could cost several pounds per Mb.

Even at today’s reduced prices the new EU caps will roughly halve the cost of roaming from July onwards and then halve it again within two years.