The two mobile phone operators - Vodafone Malta and Go Mobile - will be cutting roaming rates.
Vodafone will reduce its roaming tariffs for customers using the roaming service across the 27 European Union countries as of April 1, the company's chief executive officer Hatem Dowidar told a press conference yesterday.
Go Mobile is expected to announce cheaper roaming rates shortly, offering a new and more convenient tariff scheme, the company said in a statement.
According to Vodafone's new rate plan, dubbed Vodafone World, customers will benefit from a one low and simple rate of 30c per minute on pre-paid and 28c per minute on post-paid when calling Malta from anywhere in the EU through a Vodafone preferred network.
The new rates, which Mr Dowidar said compare well with the roaming rates offered by other European mobile operators, have gone down by an average 40 per cent when compared to the tariffs charged in summer 2005.
The company was reducing tariffs ahead of any future reductions being contemplated by the European Commission.
Vodafone was also introducing the Infotext service whereby customers can check roaming call rates and SMS rates by sending a text message with the word "from +" and the name of the visiting country to 5091 5791.
Vodafone said its Travel Promise tariff plan for all post-paid customers, launched in 2005, would remain available for roaming across the EU and other countries such as Australia and Japan. According to this plan, customers only pay a connection fee of 50c per call and then pay the same call rate of their chosen domestic tariff plan when calling the visited country or Malta.
While receiving calls abroad, customers would be charged at 30c every 10 minutes in any EU country and those roaming in non-EU countries would pay 50c for every 10 minutes.
As of July 1, Vodafone will introduce a Lm5.15 daily flat rate for customers who use their phones or mobile-enabled laptops to surf the internet, check e-mails or access their business network.
The price structure is available on www.vodafone.com.mt.
Go Mobile said that as a result of decreases in its operating costs, consumers will benefit through reduced roaming rates, which will be launched "soon".
Go Mobile is offering roaming facilities in a total of 179 countries. It says it is the operator with the longest list of countries where it is offering international roaming.
"Ever since the EU made known its recommendations regarding roaming telephony charges, Go Mobile has been studying the situation and we are happy to announce we will shortly be reducing our international roaming rates," Go Mobile's customer care senior executive officer Michael Balzan said.
More details about Go Mobile's new roaming tariffs will be announced shortly.
Earlier this month, EU telecommunications ministers meeting in Hanover gave the go-ahead for the European Commission to enact legislation to control the cost of mobile phone roaming calls. The ministers had called for the regulation of both wholesale and retail prices.
The Internal Market and Consumers Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament last week turned down the recommendations of Maltese rapporteur and Labour MEP Joseph Muscat who proposed that the new tariffs should be available to all customers from the day new legislation enters into force.
Instead, the committee backed rules that would make the cheaper roaming fees available only to new customers and to those who explicitly inform their operators they want to pay less for the use of their phone.
The vote still has to go before the full Parliament.
Soon after the vote, the European Commission said it was still determined to have new roaming tariffs by June.
According to a European Commission study last year, Malta was among the most expensive EU states in terms of roaming charges.