“Mobile phone roaming fees are part of an outdated business model, and this massive reduction and phaseout is an important victory for consumers,” said Member of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola as she welcomed this week's reduction in mobile phone roaming tariffs.

This Saturday 30 April, thanks to EU legislation, roaming prices for phone calls, messages and data in the EU will be massively reduced before they are finally abolished on 15 June 2017.

"I have supported the end of roaming charges since my very first election campaign and as an MEP, I proudly supported the European Parliament's bid to end these additional charges, which will be done away with once and for all in summer of next year. This is a great example of the very noticeable benefits of having a single EU market. It is one that leaves people with more money in their pockets and less worried about returning home from abroad to find a huge bill waiting,” said Dr Metsola.

With the new cap, the maximum surcharge on calls is €0.05 per minute, data use €0.05 per megabyte and SMS €0.02, so Maltese and Gozitans will face much lower charges when travelling within the EU. The reduction is from current prices of €0.19 per minute and €0.20 per megabyte.

“It is difficult for people to understand why we are meant to have a single market across 28 EU states, but are then still charged outrageous prices to use our phones in different EU countries,” said Dr Metsola.

She added: “This is a win-win situation. Slashing roaming prices has led to a huge uptake of people having access to technology, boosted innovation, and it has proven to be as beneficial for businesses as for consumers.”