The BBC is reporting:

Roaming text charges have not been capped in the EU before The cost of sending text messages from your mobile phone when you are overseas in the European Union has come down. The maximum charge for sending a text is now 11 euro cents ($0.15; 9.4p) plus sales tax. It is the first time that text charges have been capped. The previous EU average was 28 cents. The price of making a call is capped at 43 cents a minute, down from 46 cents, while the price of receiving a call is capped at 19 cents, down from 22 cents. "The roaming-rip off is now coming to an end," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding. The cost of transferring a megabyte of data is capped at one euro. Also, mobile operators have been forced to charge for calls by the second after the first half minute, instead of rounding up to the nearest minute. Many mobile operators have fought against the new caps, which are expected to significantly reduce their profits from roaming charges.

Original story is here:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8127865.stm

While I hate rip-offs as much as anyone, I'm a "free-market" sort of guy. I wonder how (or if) this will affect domestic tarrifs in Europe. This lost revenue will probably have to be made up from somewhere, and if operators can no longer soak the tourists, they'll be more likely to extract that pound of flesh (or Pound Sterling) from their own customer base.

Given the ease of travel and geography of the European continent, I suspect roaming fees are a significant portion of an operators' revenue, at least compared to here in the USA, and no company likes to see a governmental body slaughter a cash cow!

Todd Allcock:

Given the ease of travel and geography of the European continent, I suspect roaming fees are a significant portion of an operators' revenue, at least compared to here in the USA, and no company likes to see a governmental body slaughter a cash cow!

Interestingly, and I can't back this up with any facts and figures, I'm not sure I'd agree entirely. Most people, and businesses for that matter, are actively discouraged from using their mobiles abroad because of the high roaming costs. At my own workplace workers on European travel are only encouraged to sync mobiles (pick up email) a couple of times a day and to keep calls to a minimum. Vodafone UK, obviously with the knowledge of the impending legislation, have made a big thing of giving UK holiday makers these rates in advance and publisising it as a holiday special. I understand it's been a very popular promotion. Maybe this will actually increase the revenue from roaming communication.

Dave Parker MVP:

Todd Allcock:

Given the ease of travel and geography of the European continent, I suspect roaming fees are a significant portion of an operators' revenue, at least compared to here in the USA, and no company likes to see a governmental body slaughter a cash cow!

 

Interestingly, and I can't back this up with any facts and figures, I'm not sure I'd agree entirely. Most people, and businesses for that matter, are actively discouraged from using their mobiles abroad because of the high roaming costs. At my own workplace workers on European travel are only encouraged to sync mobiles (pick up email) a couple of times a day and to keep calls to a minimum. Vodafone UK, obviously with the knowledge of the impending legislation, have made a big thing of giving UK holiday makers these rates in advance and publisising it as a holiday special. I understand it's been a very popular promotion. Maybe this will actually increase the revenue from roaming communication.

I don't have any facts and figures either, and haven't been to Europe in the "cell phone era" so I'll happily take your word for it!

That's certainly an interesting observation- if reduced roaming rates actually get people to use their phones abroad rather than be afraid to turn them on unless there's an emergency, this certainly could increase roaming revenue for all carriers rather than decrease it.

I've never understood why European carriers that operate in more than one country, like Voda or T-Mobile, don't create "pan-European" plans to get a leg up on their competiton.  Or for that matter, why T-Mobile in the USA doesn't leverage its parent company to offer lower (or even "free" roaming on other T-Mobile networks in Europe and vice-versa.  As the 4th-place carrier, you'd think T-Mo would trade a few bucks in international roaming revenue (which, like you say, is mostly a bunch of travelers going out of their way NOT to use their phones!) for the giant competitive advantage this would give them over AT&T, America's largest GSM carrier.  They could steal a lot of AT&T's Euro-traveler business customers, who'd probably willingly "trade down" to T-Mo's weaker domestic coverage in order to get free or reduced-rate European roaming. 

But, alas, T-Mo never asks my advice.  I am willing, however to offer my consulting services to them for free, as long as Catherine Zeta-Jones, (who recently returned as their advertising spokesperson,) is in attendence at all meetings...   

Todd Allcock:

But, alas, T-Mo never asks my advice.  I am willing, however to offer my consulting services to them for free, as long as Catherine Zeta-Jones, (who recently returned as their advertising spokesperson,) is in attendence at all meetings...   

  I agree, an insight into Ms Zeta-Jones "business acumen" would be payment enough. ahem.