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The EU Council of Ministers today approved the new rules on the cost of telephony services when roaming internationally. From 1 July will, therefore, formally in force and effect are those mentioned in the press officer which contains an extract.

With the new roaming rules today officially approved by the Council:
- The maximum price that may be charged to consumers to send a text message from abroad is limited to 0.11 euros (excluding VAT), compared to 0.28 euro which are now paying on average (consumers of the Netherlands and Portugal pay more than € 0.35 per SMS sent while roaming);
- Is substantially reduced roaming charges for data (the cost of surfing the Web or downloading movies with a mobile phone while abroad) by introducing a wholesale cap of € 1 per megabyte downloaded, compared to EU average € 1.68 per megabyte, with peaks recorded in Ireland (6.82 euros), Greece (5.30 euros) and Estonia (5.10 euros). The maximum price will fall to 0.80 euros in 2010 and to € 0.50 in 2011 and should facilitate further reductions in bills;
- Consumers are protected against "unpleasant surprises" when the bill arrives, as have the opportunity to choose a mechanism of interruption of service when the bill reaches € 50, unless you opt for a higher ceiling. Operators will have until March 2010 to implement these measures to promote transparency;
- Prices for mobile roaming calls decreases strongly. The maximum rates, which are now fixed respectively at 0.46 and € 0.22 for calls made ​​and received abroad will fall to 0.43 and 0.19 euros on 1 July 2009, and 0 to 0.39 15 euro on 1 July 2010 and 0.35 and EUR 0.11 by 1 July 2011 (all prices are per minute, excluding VAT);
- Has introduced the principle of per second billing after 30 seconds for calls made ​​while roaming and after the first second for calls received while abroad. With the methods currently applied to the minute billing consumers pay about 20% more than the actual duration of calls made ​​or received.

Source: Europe

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