European Commission unveils plans to end expensive roaming charges

The European Commission (EC) has unveiled ambitious plans to solve the issue of expensive data roaming charges, which will allow consumers to take out a secondary mobile phone contract specifically for roaming but keep their existing number.

Price caps for consumers will limit charges to €0.24 per minute to make a call, €0.10 per minute to receive a call, €0.10 to send a text message and €0.50 per megabyte for data. However, the EC expects competition to lower these prices even further.

Neelie Kroes, vice president for the Digital Agenda, explained that the new system will create a highly competitive market to drive down costs.

"This proposal tackles the root cause of the problem - the lack of competition in roaming markets - by giving customers more choice and by giving alternative operators easier access to the roaming market," she said.

"It would also immediately bring down prices for data roaming, where operators currently enjoy outrageous profit margins."

The EC will enforce low wholesale prices and force operators to allow virtual network operators access to their networks, letting new players enter the market to drive competition.

The legislation is set to become law on 1 July 2014 if it receives approval, but before then the EC has outlined plans for caps on data roaming of €0.90 per megabyte from 1 July 2012, falling to €0.70 in 2013.

The cap on data costs is the first time such a proposal has been suggested