EU to abolish data roaming charges within two years

If people needed yet another excuse to stare into their phones all day, this is it.

It’s one of those small annoyances that makes travelling abroad slightly more troublesome than necessary – the mobile phone roaming charge.

Ever since mobiles became part of our every day lives almost two decades ago, the idea of visiting a foreign country and making a call has been enough to send even the deepest of suntans a shade of fearful pale…

Arbitrarily expensive, the roaming charge has added pounds to the average monthly phone bill for years, and the advent of smartphones has meant that even a day surfing the internet while abroad could end up costing the user a pretty penny.

But those expensive days are numbered thanks to a recent European Union ruling that announced it will scrap all data roaming charges within the EU by June 2017.

Until that date, mobile phone providers will be permitted to add surcharges, but only at a reduced rate, which means that the average holidaymaker, traveller or second home owner can begin to enjoy cheaper phone bills right away.

Equally, all telecom operators within the EU will have to begin treating most internet traffic on mobile devices equally, which will allow smartphone owners to browse to their heart’s content without having to worry that the particular service they are using – streaming music or watching high definition content, for example – is being charged at a higher rate than normal web browsing.

From April next year, the EU has stated that telecom operators can add a surcharge of no more than €0.05 extra per minute for calls, and just €0.02 extra for text messages. Every megabyte of internet data used can only attract an additional surcharge of €0.05 at most.

This interim period will make roaming within the EU 75 per cent cheaper than currently, with June 2017 the date that all additional costs are to be scrapped.

These changes will prove music to the ears of the many thousands of Brits who own a property in Spain but still live, for the most part, in the UK and thus do not have a Spanish mobile phone. It will mean that Brits can use their UK mobile in Spain as they would back home – with no nasty surprises waiting in next month’s phone bill.