The cost of surfing the internet on a smartphone while travelling within the European Union has been cut in half.
New EU limits that came in force today have also reduced the cost of making and receiving phone calls.
Roaming charges have been gradually cut since 2007, with telecoms providers capped on what they can charge, and are due to be scrapped completely by the end of this year.
Neelie Kroes, the EU telecoms commissioner, said: "This huge drop in data roaming prices will make a big difference to all of us this summer."
The cost of using the internet in another EU country now stands at a maximum of 16p (€0.20) per megabyte. It previously cost 36p (€0.45) per megabyte.
Making phone calls within the EU has fallen from 19p (€0.24) per minute to 15p (€0.19), while the cost of receiving a call now costs 4p (€0.05) per minute, whereas previously it was 6p (€0.07). Text messages are down from 6p (€0.07) to 5p (€0.06).
Business Traveller has partnered with roaming data service Globalgig to offer Business Traveller Plus members a free SIM and up to 300MB of international roaming data. Click here for more details.
Graham Smith
