European mobile roaming fees cut If you are going a-roaming this holiday season, it just got cheaper to use your mobile phone while travelling within the European Union. Cuts in international roaming charges imposed by Brussels came into force on July 1st. Telecoms regulator Neelie Kroes" crusade against those fees means they have been reduced by just over a third and she is pushing to eliminate them altogether by next year. The cost of using the internet while abroad has fallen to 45 cents per megabyte, from 70 cents. To make a call it now 24 cents per minute, down from 29 cents, and receiving calls has gone from eight to seven cents per minute. The cost of sending text messages is down, from nine to eight cents. Under the new rules, travellers also have to be notified when they reach a pre-agreed spending limit while abroad. The changes have come despite fierce opposition from phone operators. They had argued their profits would suffer so they would not be able to invest in infrastructure. But be careful, the new lower roaming rates apply only in the European Union; step across the border - say to Turkey - and your calling and browsing costs shoot up. More about: European Union, Internet, Mobile Telephony, Telecommunication