EU: Mobile calls and web surfing abroad to get cheaper on July 1

Jun 28, 2010, 15:48 GMT

Brussels - Making calls or surfing the internet while using a mobile phone or laptop abroad is set to become cheaper within the European Union, the European Commission said Monday, as it announced new regulation entering into force on July 1.

The commission, the EU's executive, first acted to limit so-called 'roaming charges' incurred by consumers using their mobile phone in a different EU state from the one where they normally reside in 2007.

'I am determined to make the EU's telecoms markets more competitive,' said telecoms commissioner Neelie Kroes in a statement.

The latest round of price caps would reduce the cost of making a call from abroad from 43 to 39 euro cents (48 dollar cents) per minute, excluding value-added tax, the commission said.

The cost of receiving calls is set to drop from 19 to 15 euro cents per minute.

Officials stressed that for the first time internet roaming charges would also be limited, with mobile phone companies being obliged to cut people off once their monthly bill reaches a default threshold of 50 euros.

Customers, who will be allowed to negotiate a lower or higher bill limit, will receive a warning upon reaching 80 per cent of their allotted charges, the commission said.

Action was deemed necessary to limit 'bill shocks,' with the commission citing the example of one German traveller in France who faced a bill of no less than 46,000 euros (56,700 dollars) after downloading a TV programme on his handset.

In addition, EU authorities decreed that the maximum price for each megabyte of internet data downloaded from abroad is to fall from 1 euro to 80 euro cents.

The commission wants the difference between national and EU-wide calling and internet surfing to 'approach zero by 2015,' and is set to issue a report spelling out how it intends to reach that target by June 2011.