From today (July 1st), people heading to EU countries for their summer holiday will find it even cheaper to stay in touch with family and friends back home thanks to new reductions in data roaming charges.
The European Commission has announced further cuts to the caps that limit how much mobile operators are allowed to charge for calls, texts and data usage when a person is abroad, but still within the economic bloc.
Read more on mobile phone roaming charges…
It began this strategy several years ago and with new reductions now being implemented on an annual basis, the body is well on its way to eliminating extra roaming charges within the EU completely.
European Commission vice-president Neelie Kroes said: “The latest price cuts put more money in your pocket for summer and are a critical step towards getting rid of these premiums once and for all. This is good for both consumers and companies, because it takes fear out of the market and it grows the market.”
The cost of making a phone call when abroad is set to fall by 17% compared with last year, to 21p per minute. Meanwhile, receiving a call will now cost 12.5% less and charges for sending texts will drop by 11 per cent.
However, it is data usage where the biggest reduction is taking place, with the cost of browsing the internet, uploading photos and checking emails set to fall by 36%, from 60p per megabyte to 39p.
These charges can be applied to all major networks, if you’re going abroad soon, make sure that your mobile is protected. Select your device now: Samsung S7 | iPhone 7 | iPhone SE | iPhone 6 | Other Devices…
While travellers to all countries within the EU are set to benefit from the lower costs, nowhere will see a bigger fall than Croatia, which became the EU’s 28th member today and is therefore covered by the caps for the first time.
The BBC noted that the cost of typical usage in the country – including uploading a single photo to the internet, checking social media accounts for half an hour and sending one email every day, as well as checking a map five times – will drop from £278 for a week’s trip to just £20.85.
