It’s finally happening, Europe! Starting Saturday (April 30), mobile roaming charges will be a lot cheaper.
The European Parliament is capping extra fees telecom providers can charge customers for using their phones in countries across the EU, before abolishing them altogether. The cap, which goes into effect on Saturday, will slash roaming charges by about 75%.
Mobile phone companies used to be able to charge European customers up to €0.19 ($0.22) per minute for outgoing calls made abroad, within the EU. The new cap lowers that rate to €0.05.
Roaming charges for voice calls, text messages, and mobile data will soon be completely banned, the European Commission said last October. Starting Jun. 15, 2017, customers will pay the same price wherever they travel in the EU.