MEPs are expected to approve a new EU regulation today which will dramatically cut the cost of using a mobile phone when travelling abroad.
The new legislation will cap the cost of making a call in other EU states at a maximum of 49 cents a minute. Receiving a call will be capped at 24 cent a minute under a compromise proposal agreed by MEP negotiators with the current holder of the EU presidency, Germany.
The planned cap on charges could be in place by the end of next month.
MEPs on the industry committee of the European Parliament voted in favour of the draft regulation late on Monday, paving the way for today's full vote in a plenary session in Strasbourg.
The package should now be approved with the support of most political groups in the parliament.
Under the terms of the "roaming regulation", the cap on the maximum retail charges for outgoing and incoming calls which can be applied in 2008 will fall to 46 cent and 22 cent, respectively. In 2009 the maximum per-minute roaming charges will fall to 43 cent and 19 cent.
MEPs had originally sought caps of 40 cent per minute for outgoing calls and 15 cent per minute for incoming calls made in other EU states. However, EU states opposed these rates, fearing that they could damage the industry and prompt a sell-off in shares.
The mobile phone industry has warned that the proposed regulation would force it to raise the cost of national calls to compensate for the loss of roaming revenue. It also predicted chaos if it was forced to switch tens of millions of subscribers over to the new regulated Eurotariff all at once.
Under the compromise package, mobile operators will have three months before they must switch all consumers over to the new roaming tariffs. However, any customer who wants to avail of the new protected Eurotariff sooner can contact their mobile operator once the regulation is passed.
EU officials said yesterday that if the vote in the parliament was passed today it might be possible to get the regulation in force in time for the summer holiday period. Member states' ambassadors are expected to discuss the roaming package this week or next and telecoms ministers could sign off on the regulation at a council meeting in Brussels on June 7th.