Telefonica customers (inc O2) in Spain, the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic and Ireland will see the cost of sending a text message home from the EU capped at €0.32 + VAT (inclusive of domestic SMS bundles, which will now apply internationally too).

For business travellers a new roaming bundle provides worldwide access to data at a price equivalent to €1 per megabyte.

For consumers, O2 businesses and Movistar in Spain will implement a range of data roaming tariffs ahead of this year's summer holiday season in July.

Telefonica says these will include both significant reductions in the per-MB price and the introduction of time-based charging principles, such as daily rates.

The company says resultant savings for customers will be anything between 42 per cent and 80 per cent compared to November 2007 prices.

Matthew Key, chairman and CEO of Telefónica O2 Europe, said: "This initiative follows similar innovation by Telefónica in voice roaming, with the introduction last year of our highly successful My Europe roaming price plans. Importantly, it also addresses the issue of transparency where, for too long, customers have been confused by a plethora of tariffs and fees. The published rate will apply across the board - regardless of the mobile network used."