A shot in the arm for SMS junkies, the European Commission is proposing caps on the charges for sending text messages across European borders. This move could bring down costs of sending cross-border SMS by almost 70%. Apparently the commission “is proposing to limit retail roaming charges for text messages to 11 to 15 euro cents, or 17 to 23 U.S. cents, a message. The fees that operators charge each other would fall to 4 to 8 cents.” The current EU average retail roaming charge for text messages is 29 cents, and the average operator charge is 8.5 cents. The commission has also been seeking to lower the fees that mobile operators charge each other to connect calls between networks; this would reduce mobile bills significantly. If things go as planned then the new SMS rates for the EU will come into effect by next summer.

By this autumn a bid will be made to extend the caps to mobile data roaming, taking aim at the charges for large-scale downloading of music, video or Internet content.
Source