The European Parliament has passed a new law to cap roaming charges across all EU member states, these laws will come into effect from July 1 2012. The price of a mobile 1 minute call will drop from €0.35 to €0.29 from July. Text messages will also be reduced from €0.11 to €0.09 per message this year, dropping further to €0.06 in 2014. Mobile data users will also benefit, mobile data charges will drop to 70 cents per megabyte, then it will be reduced to €0.20 per megabyte in 2014.
This new legislation according to European Commisioner Neelie Kroes’ Digital Agenda will benefit frequent flyers, families and business people, it could save business travellers up to 1000 Euros a year in some Eu countries. Kroes said in a statement that she is glad to have “ended the rip-off familiar to anyone who has used a mobile phone by traveling abroad.”