O2 knocks down further European barriers

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<div class="rxbodyfield" xmlns:o="urn:www.microsoft.com/office" xmlns:st1="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags" xmlns:st2="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags2" xmlns:w="urn:www.microsoft.com/word" xmlns:x="urn:www.microsoft.com/excel"><p>Mobile phone supplier O2 has extended its roaming tariff to include 31 European countries in a move which has been hailed by industry experts as a signal to the end of extortionate roaming charges.</p><p>Despite the fact that 147 million people are affected by the roaming tariffs system used by mobile phone operators in Europe, it&#39;s the British who are being stung with the highest call charges, according to a report from the European Commission.</p><p>Telecommunications expert at the price comparison and switching website uSwitch.com, Chris Frost, said that while this is a positive step from one of the UK&#39;s largest mobile phone suppliers, it&#39;s one that is long overdue.</p><p>&quot;Affordability is a key issue and O2 has made significant strides to alleviate this. O2 is the first network to offer cheaper roaming in such a wide variety of countries and unlike its rivals, customers are not tied into using an O2 or Telefonica network whilst travelling in order to save money,&quot; he continued.</p><p>Mr Frost also said that while the My Europe tariff was certainly addressing an issue within the mobile market, it would be predominantly aimed at regular foreign travellers, rather than the occasional user.</p><p>&quot;A person signing up to the 21-month tariff would have to make and/or receive more than 65 minutes of roaming calls per year before they start to save money,&quot; he added.</p><p>O2&#39;s new tariffs come hot on the heels of a similar offer from T-Mobile, which will offer reductions for UK customers using networks in the US, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia &#8211; although the smaller charges will only apply to business customers until the summer when T-Mobile hopes to be able to offer the same deal to its consumer base.</p><p>What tariff should you choose? Pay As You Go or contract? <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Mobiles/Tariffs-Simplified.html">Find the best tariff for your budget. uSwitch.com can search available deals and find the one best suited to you. <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Mobiles/index.aspx?">Compare mobile deals and switch online for free</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.adfero.co.uk" target="_blank"><img alt="track" src="http://feeds.directnews.co.uk/feedtrack/dn.gif?feedid=362&amp;itemid=18061148" style="border:0 0 0" />&#169; Adfero Ltd</a></a></p></div>