Cost of phoning while abroad to tumble

Monday, 08 May 2006 12:00

Vodafone and T-Mobile have both said that they will cut the cost of using one of their mobiles abroad.

With the EU threatening new laws to limit the amount that mobile phone operators can charge for using your phone in other EU countries, Vodafone has said it will slash the cost of calling in non-home EU countries by 40 per cent by April next year.

Call charges for using your Vodafone in the EU will fall from ?0.90 (62 pence) to less than ?0.55 (37 pence) per minute, the company said this morning.

"The European Commission and European Parliament have made it clear that they expect to see change. Our announcement today shows that the market, led by Vodafone, is meeting those expectations by providing what our customers tell us they want," said Arun Sarin, Vodafone chief executive.

T-Mobile is also planning to reduce the cost of calling when abroad, launching a new service charging a flat fee for calls in 29 European countries, the US, and Canada.

Deutsche Telekom, who own T-Mobile, said it would launch the new service in June, charging 55 pence a minute to make and receive calls.

And this was, perhaps, better news for consumers than the Vodafone deal.

"The real jewel in the crown of the T-Mobile offering is that they will also be cutting the cost of making and receiving calls to 55p in the USA and Canada, traditionally the countries with the highest roaming costs," said Anthony Ball of mobile comparison service OneCompare.

"Vodafone however, although promising to cut roaming rates down to even lower rates than T-Mobile's within Europe, have only committed to providing this in nearly a years time.

"It seems they have been caught on the hop by the T-Mobile announcement and it seems they are simply trying to placate their customers with far off promises while they continue to be extremely vocal behind the scenes regarding the proposed EU legislation and their plans to stop it dead by challenging the ruling."

Before the changes come into effect, he recommended that mobile customers check the small print on their deals and consider buying an overseas sim card for use abroad.

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