Expensive roaming is history in EU this July

The European Commission's quest to end "roaming ripoffs" on text message and data charges incurred while roaming in the EU has come to a triumphant end.

The European Commission's proposal (PDF available here) to cap wholesale data roaming rates and roaming text costs was approved by the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in December and was approved yesterday by the European Parliament.

The average cost for a roaming text message in the EU is currently €0.29; under the new regulations it will drop to €0.11 on July 1, and wholesale data roaming fees will be capped at €1 per megabyte.

Additionally, Parliament went ahead and offered further cuts to roaming voice calls. The outgoing call charge will drop from €0.46 per minute to €0.35 per minute, and incoming will drop from €0.22 per minute to €0.11 per minute. Charges are also required to be measured by the second to prevent from costly round-ups.

EC Commissioner Viviane Reding said the updated laws will save consumers more than 60% on their roaming bills.