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By Brian Milligan Personal Finance reporter
30 April 2016
From the section Business
Image copyright Getty Images
UK consumers using their mobile phones in Europe will see reductions in their
bills from Saturday.
Further caps are coming into effect on roaming - or connection - charges within
all 28 countries of the European Union (EU).
From June next year, roaming charges in the EU will be abolished completely.
The government said that those making calls, downloading data or texting would
save millions of pounds in charges following the latest changes.
"Roughly a million Brits stay the night in Europe every day, and they spend
around 350m a year on roaming charges," said Ed Vaizey, the minister for the
digital economy.
"So by realising these changes, we're going to save British consumers millions
of pounds a year."
Costs
Consumers pay roaming charges whenever they connect to an operator based
abroad. The charges are in addition to the cost of the call itself, and for
short calls they can make up a large proportion of the overall fee.
The biggest reductions will be for people downloading data - such as emails,
pictures or social media - where the roaming charge will be cut by about 75%.
Charges for outgoing phone calls will be cut by a similar amount. The charge
for texting will be reduced by about 66%.
So whereas those making a phone call in Europe would previously have paid
roughly 16.5p to get connected, they will now pay just 4p.
Data downloads, which previously cost a maximum of 17.4p, will also now cost
4p.
EU roaming charges from 30 April 2016
Service Previous maximum charge (approx) New maximum charge (approx)
Outgoing phone calls 16.5p 4p
Incoming call 4p 1p
Data download 17.4p 4p
Text 5p 2p
source: EE/Vodafone/ O2
When the call charges themselves are taken into consideration, the government
says the average total cost of a phone call should fall by more than half.
Not all customers will see a reduction, however, as some operators include
roaming charges within special packages.
O2 said most of its customers would see immediate reductions, while EE said the
majority of its customers would not be affected. Three already provides free
roaming for most of its customers in a limited number of countries.
EU referendum
Mr Vaizey questioned what would happen to the roaming charge caps should the UK
vote to leave the EU.
"I don't know what would happen if we leave the EU, and that's the problem," he
told the BBC.
"They might stay, or they might not stay."
The controls on charges are being introduced under an EU regulation - not a
directive - which means they have not been specifically incorporated into UK
law.
So if the UK voted to leave the EU, it could decide whether it wanted to keep
them or not.
The Vote Leave campaign said the UK would be able to retain the price caps if
it wanted to.
"These charges are being abolished across Europe and abroad. There is no
evidence to suggest that they will go up if we vote leave," said Matthew
Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave.