EU says roaming charge limits are legal

The European Court of Justice today upheld the decision to cap cellphone roaming charges across the EU. Officials said the EU had the "right" to impose caps to protect subscribers from overly high costs inside Europe. The caps, which will be enforced as of July 1, top out at 0.49 euros ($0.59) per minute for an outgoing call and 0.24 euros ($0.29) for incoming calls, with both data and messaging also having limits.

Carriers have objected to the roaming caps as they believed it cut off a source of profit from Europeans vacationing inside the continent. However, roaming has already gone up in Europe for those carriers that have implemented the caps. The original decision was made as earlier roaming rates allegedly ran against the principles of a united European market.

Before the caps, costs could run as high as 2.70 euros ($3.23) per minute depending on the countries involved. Many have resorted to either turning their phones off or looking for prepaid service in the countries they visit.

By Electronista Staff