A DRAMATIC drop in the cost of mobile phone calls and text messages between European Union member States has been brought in from today (Wednesday), potentially saving travellers up to 70%.
Thanks to the newly-effective European Electronic Communications Code (CECE) and the Organisation of Electronic Communications Regulators (ORECE), calls between the 28 countries may no longer cost any more than 19 cents per minute, and SMS messages, six cents a minute.
These prices do not include IVA, or VAT, since this varies from nation to nation.
It comes just a year and 11 months after the EU dropped roaming charges for mobile phones used in member States other than those in which they were registered, but is not the same concept.
Roaming fees meant general data use, such as internet connection via an operator, was much more expensive outside the country of origin of the mobile phone – to such an extent that most travellers would put their phones into 'flight mode', disabling all connections, whenever they left their national borders, and only used them when they were in a WiFi hotspot.
But now, the costs for using a mobile phone, other than calls and text messages, are the same anywhere in the EU, as long as the phone is run via an operator in an EU country.
SMS messages and calls will not cost the same from one country to the next, but a strict cap has been placed on charges, reducing these – in the case of Spanish mobile operators – by around 70%.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com