The cost of sending mobile phone texts when overseas is set to fall dramatically after the European Commission said it would force operators to drop their tariffs.
A year after cutting the cost of calling from mobile phones while abroad, the Commission is targeting high charges for sending and receiving mobile phone messages from another country.
Commission President Jose Manual Barroso said today new laws capping roaming texting rates would be introduced in October. This follows the failure of the phone companies to drop their charges voluntarily.
Some 2.5 billion roaming text messages are sent every year by mobile users moving around the EU, which can cost more than ten times as much as texting at home.
The average cost of a roaming text message is 29 cents but tariffs can be as high as 80 cents in Belgium. Texting from an Irish mobile abroad costs between 29 cents and 39 cents per message.
“EU citizens should be free to text across borders without being ripped off,” said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding. “Roaming charges have already drained the wallets of mobile customers too much, especially the 77 per cent of young people who send texts while using their mobile abroad.
Ms Reding said the Commission would also address the issue of data roaming, which was still “heavily overpriced”.
The Commission also launched a new roaming website today to give mobile users up to date price information about the cost of sending text messages or surfing the web abroad in one of the 27 EU Member States.