T-Mobile has become the first major operator to announce a drop in roaming data charges ahead of the European Commission's 1 July deadline. Other mobile operators are expected to follow suit.

Customers of T-Mobile will pay £1.50 per megabyte, down from £7.50, to download data while travelling in EU countries other than the one in which they bought their contract. Text messages will fall from 49p to 25p each.

At the GSM Conference in Barcelona in February, EU Competition Commissioner Viviane Reding set a deadline of 1 July for mobile operators to drop data roaming prices or face regulations.

Just before the conference, Vodafone dropped its European data roaming charge to £4.99 per megabyte, but is expected to follow T-Mobile with further cuts.

Sabre-rattling from the Commissioner has already succeeded in forcing operators to lower roaming voice call charges, and Reding recently warned operators not to gouge customers on in-flight calls.

Eliminating roaming charges altogether was discussed as part of the Telecom Reform agenda discussed by Member States' telecoms ministers earlier this month.