Vodafone UK has launched a new tariff option called EuroTraveller that allows customers to use their UK tariff allowances whilst in Europe, cutting the price of ‘roaming’ abroad.

Opting in to a £3 daily charge lets consumers on a ‘pay monthly’ price plan use their UK voice, text and mobile internet allowance when abroad. Calls and texts received whilst in Vodafone’s Europe Zone are free; additional ‘out of bundle’ charges are the same as in the UK.

This week’s podcast from The Fonecast takes a look at the European Commission’s new roaming charges before talking about the rest of the week’s big stories, from Facebook to free messaging.

You can listen to the programme on our website audio player, via iTunes, by using our RSS feed or by downloading the MP3.

It's been another busy week for the mobile industry, with European roaming charges, Facebook applications, Yahoo's CEO, mobile payments, free messaging and financial results all hitting the headlines.

Mark Bridge writes:

As summer approaches, so the media’s interest in mobile phone roaming increases. Once again, the maximum price of calls and texts when abroad in Europe is falling – but this year there’s something different on the horizon. The European parliament has just approved the EU’s plans to introduce a price cap for mobile data... and in a couple of years’ time we’ll be able to choose a completely separate network to help cut roaming costs.

O2 UK has created a new international roaming deal for customers with a ‘pay monthly’ contract. O2 Travel will launch in July 2012, providing customers with fixed charges when they travel in Europe.

Voice calls will use minutes from the customer’s standard tariff allowance with a one-off 50p charge per call. Data usage will be charged at 25MB per day for £1.99.