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Top telecommunications regulators for the European Union are placing limits on the cost of international texts, the bloc’s executive arm said today. Mobile phone operators will be forced to slash by roughly two-thirds the cost of sending a text message while traveling between European Union countries.

EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said she wanted to see roaming fees for text messages fall by up to 70 percent. She said she will put forward rules in October to cap charges.

The 2.5 billion text messages sent every year by roaming customers in the EU cost over 10 times more than domestic short messages (SMS).

“We are punishing our young students, our young travelers, and that is completely unfair,” Reding said. “EU citizens should be free to text across borders without being ripped off.”

A roamed text currently costs an average of 29 euro cents (46 U.S. cents), but can climb to 80 euro cents ($1.27) in certain countries, such as Belgium.

Price caps on roamed voice calls introduced last year by Reding were one of Brussels’ most popular policies ever.

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Reuters - “Rip off” mobile phone operators will
be forced to slash by roughly two-thirds the cost of sending a
text message while traveling between European Union countries,
the bloc’s executive arm said on Tuesday.