Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri said that as from today EU citizens, including Maltese, can call from home to any other EEA country at EU capped rates.

This is part of the Intra-EU Communications Regulations on Calls or SMS sent from your Maltese telephony subscription to any other country in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes all the member states of the European Union (EA), Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway (as soon as it is incorporated in the EEA agreement).

This means that as from today calls and SMS will be capped to ensure that customers do not pay excessive prices.

“I thank the Malta Communications Authority for working closely with other authorities in the drafting of these regulations. The Authority will now be responsible to make sure that all operators abide to these rules as well as in the coming days an informative campaign will be launched to further explain to the public with these changes”, said Silvio Schembri, adding that this initiative complements the Roam Like Home which came into force 2 years ago. “Both initiatives are significant in bringing Europe closer to its citizens”.

The maximum charges excluding taxes that your telephony service provider can charge you for fixed and mobile calls and SMSs are

-    Calls from a landline at a €0.19 per minute

-    Calls made from a mobile at a €0.19 per minute

-    SMS at a €0.06 per SMS

This regulation applies to consumers only. Therefore, if you are a business customer, this regulation may not apply.

For further information, one can contact 21336840 or send an email on [email protected].