CHEAPER ROAMING SERVICES FOR CONSUMERS IN THE EU

Good news for motorcaravanners travelling in the EU

From summer 2012: data downloads get much cheaper

Now data is being brought under the same system. The new prices caps, which have entered into force on 1 July 2012, are:

• 29 cents per minute to make a call, plus VAT
• 8 cents per minute to receive a call, plus VAT
• 9 cents to send a text message, plus VAT
• 70 cents per Megabyte (MB) to download data or browse the Internet whilst travelling abroad (charged per Kilobyte used), plus VAT.

From 1 July 2012, the European Union's mobile roaming regulation will be extended to include price caps for data downloads which will mean significant savings for those using maps, email and social networks when travelling. For a typical businessperson travelling in the EU this will mean savings of over €1000 per year. A family taking an annual holiday in another EU country can expect to save at least €200. (Full details of these data roaming case studies are in Annex II).

Overall, the improved EU roaming regulation – taking into account calls, SMS and data - will deliver consumers savings of 75% across a range of mobile roaming services, compared to 2007 prices. This year Europeans will spend around €5 billion on roaming services, a saving of around €15 billion compared to what the same services would have cost under 2007 prices.

More info on the following link: ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/tariffs