The maximum charge for mobile phone calls in Europe has fallen again, thanks to the European Commission's 2009 ruling on mobile phone charges.

Consumers on any standard UK tariff will now receive the so-called 'Eurotariff' of no more than 35 Euro cents per minute for calls made (38p incl. VAT) and 11 cents (12p incl. VAT) per minute for calls received while abroad in the EU.

UK customers can now buy an international data roaming tariff that offers a single rate in more than 50 countries worldwide. The deal, called abroadband, has been set up by the Telekom Austria Group but can be purchased in 27 countries and used in 53 countries.

Data is charged at 59 Euro cents per MB (about 50p/MB), with connection options including a conventional SIM, micro SIM or USB dongle.

New EU roaming regulation isn’t having much effect on the mobile usage habits of British consumers when they’re abroad, according to new research conducted on behalf of mobile roaming company MACH.

Over half of mobile users said they were aware of the rules regarding roaming, yet three-quarters of these said the rules made no difference to how they used their mobile phone when travelling abroad.

Zurich-based roaming specialist Starhome has revealed a new Global Services Operations Center designed to help network operators by identifying events that can affect consumers who are ‘roaming’ abroad. The GSOC can track the movements and services of over one and a half billion mobile roaming customers, proactively identifying and evaluating disruptions and peaks in services.

Vodafone UK is introducing two new European data roaming options on Wednesday 1st December.