Euro MPs rubber stamp cheaper holiday calls and texts

Texting abroad just got cheaper
Texting abroad just got cheaper

Euro MPs have ratified plans to lower the price of using your mobile phone abroad, agreeing a cap for texting calling and data charges.

The plans, which were put forward last month but needed the rubber stamp from the European bigwigs, which was overwhelmingly agreed today.

Among the agreed changes was an €0.11 cap on text messaging (10p), which is a big plunge as it currently stands at about 26p per text on average at the moment.

Overwhelming

European MPs voted on the matter with 646 in favour and 22 against, and are designed to rid the news of the 'shock bills' stories where clueless punters are charged thousands of pounds for failing to find out how much it cost to use their phone abroad.

As such, the cap for data roaming will be set at €1 per MB of data (around 92p) and a data cap to be agreed between customer and network to halt the massive bills.

The charge caps were put forward last month, where TechRadar brought you all the information on the future charge drops, with roaming costs likely to come down year on year for the next three years.

EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding said that operators would still be able to operate with good margins after the cut, meaning that the big networks will have to find alternative ways to drive revenue from holiday makers.

Via BBC

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grew with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.

Latest in Network Providers
Mint Mobile customer service review
Mint Mobile unlimited plan customers have just received an easy-to-miss but crucial upgrade
Verizon branded sim card on purple background with don't miss text overlay
PSA: Verizon's awesome home internet deal is expiring this week - don't miss your chance to get a year of Netflix
Visible branded SIM card on magenta background with don't miss text overlay
Ending tomorrow: last chance to get an unlimited data plan for just $20/mo at Visible Wireless
A satellite over the earth next to hands holding as phone making a satellite video call with a man in Wales.
Vodafone makes 'world's first' satellite video call with a standard phone – here's why that's a big deal
Verizon branded sim card on purple background with don't miss text overlay
Verizon's excellent home internet deal from Black Friday is still available: get a full year of Netflix for free
Mint Mobile branded SIM card on grey background with don't text overlay
Quick: Mint Mobile's awesome half-price unlimited plan deal is due to end soon
Latest in News
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 resting on an RTX 5090 on a gray crafting mat.
Corsair tells us only one of its prebuilt PCs with an RTX 5000 GPU has suffered from chip-level fault, suggesting it’s as rare as Nvidia claimed
Fujfilm GFX 50R
First Fujifilm GFX100RF images leaked in build-up to expected reveal – here’s what they tell us about the unique premium compact camera
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 in blue
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 could have a Motorola Razr-style full-sized cover screen – and I think it’s about time
Spotify logo on a mobile device
Had Spotify problems recently? It's clamped down on Premium APK 'modded' apps – here's what's happening
An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT made by Sapphire on a table with its retail packaging
Last-minute AMD RX 9070 XT stock rumors are making me hopeful for a much better launch than Nvidia’s RTX 5000 GPUs – with just one snag
eSIM
Global eSIM shipment volume surpasses half a billion units as demand keeps on growing