European mobile phone users should expect up to a 60% reduction in roaming bills when traveling though the European Union (EU)..
New price caps and regulations took effect yesterday across the 27-nation bloc.
"The roaming rip-off is now coming to an end. Expect the new roaming rules to make it much cheaper to surf the web on your mobile while abroad in the EU." said EU commissioner for information society and media, Viviane Reding.
The new rules, adopted by EU ministers in June, cut the average price of a text message from 28 Euro cents (40 US cents) to 11 cents.
Prices for mobile roaming calls are now capped at €0.46 for calls made and €0.22 (65 US cents) for calls received abroad, and will be reduced to €0.43 for calls made and €0.19 for calls received abroad. They will then drop to €0.39 and €0.15 on July 1, 2010, falling to €0.35 and €0.11 by July 1, 2011.
The new caps also reduce data roaming charges with the introduction of a wholesale cap of €1 per megabyte downloaded, compared to an average EU wholesale price of €1.68 per megabyte.