Roaming data caps for mobiles finally coming to Europe

Roaming data caps for mobiles finally coming to Europe
Roam while in Rome with no worries

Travellers in Europe rejoice! Mobile operators are to clamp down on 'bill shocks' and initiate data price capping from July.

Currently, data roaming in Europe can be something of an expensive business. Although many mobile operators have introduced 'passport' schemes for data while abroad there's never been an official limit on what mobile browsing should cost.

This is set to change as of July, with call and data caps to be introduced - something that was originally mooted a few years ago.

The new limits are set at 90 cents (72p) a MB and calls are to be capped at 29 cents (23p). Data will eventually drop to 50 cents by 2014.

Without borders

In the end, there were 578 votes to just 10 in the European Parliament for the movement, which shows there's a massive push behind lowering data prices in Europe.

Speaking about the ruling, MEP Ivo Belet said: "In a borderless Europe, there is no place for charges that diverge so much at home and abroad."

The new regulations also mean that mobile phone users will be able to pick and choose a different operator for their European travails without changing numbers.

This should mean that due to competition, prices will drop even further but this part of the legislation is not scheduled to be in place until 2014.

Via BBC

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.