Time for cheaper EU texts

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 29th Aug 2008

Elspeth has welcomed news that call roaming charges are set to fall once again, making it cheaper for us to call home from other EU countries. But now she insists that it is time for similar reductions in the price of sending texts across EU borders.

The cost of calls will come down on Friday the 30th August. But the price of sending texts and accessing mobile internet, which are not presently covered by EU regulation, still remains high.

The Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland said:

"Call costs have come down significantly since the Parliament first voted for roaming charges to be capped, and this new tariff is further good news for consumers.

But so often the savings made through cheaper calls are offset by the excessively high price of sending texts or accessing mobile internet when abroad.

It is definitely now the time to address this. And I would urge mobile operators to pay heed".

ENDS

Notes:

For more info on the reduced tariff check the Commission press release:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1276&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en