News
EU agrees data roaming caps
Stuart O'Brien Nov 28 2008, 1:08pm
New framework limits wholesale charges to one euro per megabyte, with built-in safety nets.
EU telecoms ministers have voted to cap roaming charges for data, text and voice in an effort to eliminate so-called bill shock for people traveling abroad.
Specifically, ministers have imposed a one euro per megabyte cap on the roaming fees operators can charge each other, with user connections cut if data usage goes beyond 50MB.
Crucially, the cost passed on to consumers will still be down to individual operators to set, so there's no guarantee at this stage that the retail price of data will change at all.
For texts roaming prices have been capped at 11 euro cents per message (end-user price), compared to a 29 euro cent EU average.
If approved by the European parliament the new legislation will come into force on July 1st next year, though EU member states will be able to negotiate changes on how they implement the recommendations.
