Text for 11p anywhere in Europe this Summer

The European Parliament has come to an agreement with the European Council on a deal that will significantly cut the cost of mobile roaming SMS (texting) and data charges from the 1st July 2009.

Commenting, SE England MEP, Sharon Bowles (Lib Dem), said: "For UK consumers, the charge for sending a text message when abroad is often as high as 41p per text. Compared with just 4p for a Latvian mobile phone user, this is scandalous. This deal means that UK operators will not be able to charge more than 11p for a text message sent whilst aboard. As the actual cost to the operator is less than 1p this is to be welcomed."

"The new regulation on data charges will put a stop to the nasty shocks that people have received when they return from holiday, open their bills and see they have been charged a small fortune for simply checking the football scores on their mobiles. As well as lower charges for data, mobile companies must now offer cut off limits to stop the danger of charges silently mounting up. Once again, action at an EU level has greatly benefited the consumer."

Prices for making and receiving voice calls when roaming, which were first capped in 2007, are further reduced under the agreement.