Sunny outlook for Brits calling home on holiday

Minister for Communications, Ed Vaizey has welcomed cheaper mobile phone charges and free voicemail for UK citizens travelling in Europe, today.

Welcoming the new European Commission regulations which become effective today, the Minister commented: "As people set off on holiday abroad it is great to know that the cost of mobile calls home from  Spain, France and other European countries will be cheaper than ever.

"And with a new cap on the monthly price for data roaming, no longer will unsuspecting tourists and business travellers be stung by an extortionate bill when they return home.

"The cut in wholesale costs of data downloads abroad should also makes it cheaper for UK consumers to watch their favourite programme or get the latest news on their phone in any European country."

The new EC regulations which kick-in today include:

A reduction on the cost of making a call in the EU to 32p per minute;

A reduction on the cost of receiving a call to 12.5p per minute;

Downloading wholesale data costs on a mobile or laptop falling from 82p to 65p per megabyte uploaded or downloaded;

Receiving a voice mail message while roaming will become free of charge; and

A cap on automatic data roaming at a monthly amount of £41.50 unless prior agreement for a higher limit has already been arranged by the consumer with their network.  A warning will be sent to the consumer when roaming charges reach 80% of this cap.