A new way of dealing with calls when ‘roaming’ abroad in Europe could be introduced in a couple of years - and new charges could arrive in July 2012. That’s the message from the European Commission, which has just announced a preliminary deal on new EU Roaming rules.

The European Parliament is expected to approve this agreement in May 2012, with the Council of the European Union expected to give its approval in June. The new rules could then become law on 1st July 2012.

Ofcom is calling on the UK mobile industry to address the problem of consumers receiving unexpectedly high bills. It follows recent research that suggested 1.4 million mobile phone ‘contract’ customers may have been affected by ‘bill shock’ in the past six months.

The regulator says it may introduce new rules if mobile networks don’t tackle the problem.

Cubic Telecom has signed a Mobile Virtual Network Operator agreement with Vodafone UK, enabling customers with a Maxroam SIM card to use voice, text and data services on the Vodafone network.

Maxroam had previously offered discounted mobile use when abroad but didn’t have an equivalent deal for the UK.

Mark Bridge writes:

I don’t mind paying for a spot of WiFi when I need it. Admittedly I’d prefer to find a coffee shop with a free hotspot but I’ll pay if I really need a connection. Not just here in the UK but abroad too.

Retrieva, the UK-based company that produces dog tracking collars with built-in GPS tracking, has announced a deal with specialist virtual mobile network Podsystem.

It’ll allow Retrieva to use Podsystem’s MultiNet Europe SIM cards for a premium roaming service that’ll simplify costs and will allow European owners to track their dogs across national borders.