EU Tells Mobile Companies to Cut Text Charges

Many of citizens in the European Union want the EU to take action to cut the charges telecom companies impose on travelers using mobile phones outside their home country.

Even before laws came into force, the threat of legally-binding limits on the cost of calls made or received on a mobile while abroad caused a 10 per cent reduction in prices.

EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said overall price reductions averaged 60% compared with the prices phone operators could charge before the rules came into force, when the average cost of a call home was about one euro and 10 cents (76p). Before the EU rules some consumers were paying as much as 12 euros - £8.30 - for a four-minute roaming call when abroad.