29 August 2007
Mobile customers using their handsets on holiday may well see a reduction in their phone bills in the future.
Mobile provider 3 has announced it is to significantly cut its roaming charges by up to 47% below recent EU legislation, the Times reports.
Furthermore, industry experts are now claiming that such a cut could mean lower bills all round as other mobile providers could cut their own charges in order to compete.
As of next week, 3 customers will pay 25 pence per minute to make a call to a standard landline, while it will cost them just 10 pence to receive a call.
However the EU Eurotariff, recently enforced to make calls abroad fairer for customers, caps outbound calls at 38 pence per minute, and 19 pence per minute to receive a call.
Speaking to the newspaper, Kevin Russell, Chief Executive of 3 UK said: "European consumers deserve a dramatically improved roaming experience without the fear of inflated bills when they return home.
"Mobile phone users in the UK and across the EU have been subjected to unreasonably high charges for too long."
All mobile operators have now revealed their new European roaming rates to the European Commission (EC) in time for the launch on August 30th.
According to the EC, one mobile operator in 23 out of the EU's 27 member states is set to offer roaming charges below the EC's capped prices.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
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