Mobile data roaming costs fall by 50% in EU
New data roaming costs introduced by the EU will see the cost of using a mobile within the EU drop by around 50%.
The caps mean that mobile operators are now able to charge up to 16p per megabyte (MB) for downloading from the internet and surfing the web, a drop of 55% from last year’s charges; back in 2012 this charge was 56p per MB. The charge for making a call within EU countries has dropped by 21% and will be charged at 15p per minute. The cost of receiving a call while within the EU has dropped to 5p per minute; in addition, the cost of sending a text has dropped to 5p per text.
Mobile phone providers can offer roaming deals to customers before they leave and customers will be able to choose a local network. When compared with 2007, when the EU began to introduce controls on roaming charges, there has been a drop of up to 90% in the cost of using a mobile phone abroad. A vote in April this year saw the EU agree to eliminate roaming charges from the end of next year, although this is something that has yet to be agreed by individual governments within the EU.
It is hoped that agreements can be reached with individual countries by the end of this year and industry experts are hoping that providers will now be able to encourage more people to use their mobiles when travelling by making them aware of the cost caps.