New rules agreed by the European Parliament will force mobile operators to lower the prices of making a call or downloading data abroad by July 2012.
Once the rules are in force, mobile users will pay no more than 24p a minute to make a call, 7.5p to send a text, and 59p per megabyte for data downloads across Europe.
"Consumers are fed up with being ripped off," said commissioner Neelie Kroes, the European Commission vice-president for the Digital Agenda.
"The new roaming deal gives us a long-term structural solution with lower prices, more choice and a new smart approach for data and internet browsing."
Currently, calls can be charged at up to 30p a minute, texts cost 9p, and there is no limit to what companies can charge for a megabyte of data.
Source: www.computerweekly.com
