Today roaming charges crash

Data is 36% lower, calls made 17% and those received are 12.5% lower. SMS is 11% lower. In Croatia the costs will be 15 times lower.

Starting today roaming will cost 36% less in the European Union for downloading data from a cell, making is much cheaper to access maps, video content, e-mail and social networks if one is travelling in other EU countries. In 2013 roaming data will be up to 91% less expensive than it was in 2007. In addition, in this time span the market volume of roaming data has grown by 630%. These 2 trends will lead, thanks to efforts made by the EU, to new and significant opportunities for consumers and mobile operators. Since 2007 the EU has reduced the retail prices of calls, text messages and data by more than 80%.

Croatia, which joins the EU just today, welcomes millions of visitors from Europe every year, which this year will enjoy exceptional savings due to a reduction of nearly 15 times the cost for data traffic and 10 times for calls and text messages to other EU countries.

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, insists that “the EU must provide service to European citizens in their daily lives. The latest price reductions provide greater savings as of this summer and represent an important step towards the final elimination of these extra costs. It is an advantage for both customers and companies, in that it lessens the ‘fear’ factor of the market, encouraging their growth.”

Here are the new maximum prices:

– Data downloading or internet browsing – 45 cents/megabyte (MB) (Charged for Kilobyte used) + VAT (-36% compared to 2012)
– Outgoing calls – 24 cents/minute + VAT (-17% compared to 2012) ;
– Received Calls – 7 cents/minute + VAT (-12.5% compared to 2012)
– SMS – 8 cents + VAT (-11% compared to 2012).

Of course operators will remain free to offer lower rates (some have already begun to fully eliminate the additional costs for voice and SMS roaming), or to propose an free-roaming area in a particular region of Europe.

Ezio Baldari