A new EU regulation agreed to on Wednesday will lower the cost of mobile calls and data transfer for customers throughout Europe.
The business and growth minister, Ole Sohn (Socialistisk Folkeparti) called the deal a major achievement of Denmark’s EU presidency.
“I am pleased that we have reached an agreement that provides customers with significantly lower prices and creates real competition in the long run,” said Sohn.
The agreement drops the price of mobile calls from 3.26 kroner per minute to 2.70 kroner per minute. The price goes down to 1.77 kroner per minute in 2014.
Sending and receiving messages via SMS will also be less expensive.
Prices for sending and receiving data are reduced from 20 kroner per megabyte to just over 6.5 kroner per megabyte. By 2014, data prices will be 1.86 kroner per megabyte.
Sohn said establishing a new roaming agreement was a priority for Denmark during its EU presidency and that the agreement protects customers and businesses from soaring mobile internet prices.
The new regulation also makes it possible for customers to chose their roaming provider, giving them the option to opt for a smaller company instead of a national telecommunications company.
The new regulation will come into effect on June 30. The EU Commission will analyze the market again in 2016 and possibly remove the price caps in 2017.
