The European Parliament has voted in favour of supporting a new mobile roaming policy. This will extend EU mobile roaming regulations to include price caps for data downloads from 01 July. For a typical businessman travelling in the EU, this will mean savings of over EUR 1,000 per year. family taking an annual holiday in another EU country can expect to save at least EUR 200, according to EU calculations. Overall, the improved EU roaming regulation – taking into account calls, SMS and data - will deliver consumers savings of 75 percent across a range of mobile roaming services, compared to 2007 prices. Europeans will spend around EUR 5 billion on roaming services in 2012, a saving of around EUR 15 billion compared to what the same services would have cost under 2007 prices. The new roaming caps from July will be EUR 0.29 per minute to make a call, EUR 0.08 per minute to receive a call, EUR 0.09 to send a text message, and EUR 0.70 per MB to download data or browse the internet (plus VAT). To help avoid bill shock from July, people travelling outside the EU will get a warning text message, email or pop-up window when they are nearing EUR 50 of data downloads, or their pre-agreed level. From 01 July 2014, customers will have the option to shop around for a separate mobile roaming provider – either through a contract or by choosing a provider at their destination.
