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The agreement to lower the roaming costs in the E.U. was adopted578 votes to 10, and will replace a 2007 regulation that expires atthe end of June, the European Parliament (EP) said . The new caps reduce the costs for phone calls and SMS messages forEuropeans traveling abroad. The current maximum cost of aone-minute call will drop from €0.35 to €0.29 from Julyand will be further reduced to €0.19 as of July 2014. Textmessages will also be cheaper, with the current maximum pricefalling from €0.11 to €0.09 per message this year,dropping further to €0.06 in 2014. Mobile data will be capped at €0.70 per megabyte and willfall in stages to €0.45 in 2013 to reach a maximum of€0.20 per megabyte in 2014, the EP said. That is asignificant drop, since there is currently no limit to prices theoperators can charge for mobile data, clients are likely to pay atleast €2 per megabyte of data consumed when roaming. According to European Commissioner Neelie Kroes' Digital Agenda, atypical businessperson traveling in the E.U. will save more than€1,000 a year, while a family taking an annual holiday onaverage will save at least €200, although those figures canvary from country to country. Kroes said in a statement that she is glad to have "ended the rip-offs familiar to anyonewho has used a mobile phone by traveling abroad." By adopting the new regulation, the EP aims to open up the roamingmarket and increase competition by enabling clients to buy roamingservices from other vendors besides their home suppliers. Consumerswill be allowed to switch operators while keeping the same phonenumber. Virtual mobile network operators will also get the right toprovide roaming services by accessing other operator's networks atwholesale prices, further enhancing competition, the EP explained. There will also be an alert system implemented to prevent "billshock." "As from 1 July 2012, people will get a warning message when theyapproach 50 Euros of charges in a month (excluding VAT), if theforeign network is compatible," the EP said, adding that thesewarnings will be extended to cover people traveling outside of theE.U. The new rules still have to be formally adopted by the Council ofMinisters in June, but the Council already agreed to adopt theregulations, the EP said. After the new rules are formally adoptedthey will apply in all E.U. states. The new regulations were welcomed by the Citizens Initiative forFair Roaming. However, the organization observed that roamingprices could have been slashed even more than under the EP plan andthat it got about 80 percent of what it called for with the newregulations. Loek covers all things tech for the IDG News Service. Follow him onTwitter at @loekessers or email tips and comments to loek_essers@idg.com. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Automotive Diagnostic Computer , Bmw Diagnostic Tools Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Mercedes Diagnostic Tool today!
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