Fees consumers pay to make or receive mobile phone calls while travelling in any EU state have decreased for the fourth consecutive year as from today.
The maximum per-minute roaming charge for making a voice call in the EU decreased to 35 cents a minute from 39 cents, whereas the maximum roaming charge to receive calls has dropped to 11 cents a minute from 15 cents. All prices are excluding VAT.
The European Union's retail price caps establishing the "Eurotariff" roaming charges first took effect on July 1, 2007.
Since then, they have been progressively lowered on July 1 of each consecutive year.
The rules set by the EU also require that mobile service providers charge on a per second basis for all voice calls, made or received, to ensure that consumers only pay for what is consumed.
Service providers may charge a flat rate for the first 30 seconds with per second billing being applied thereafter.