Mobile phone roaming fees in the EU will fall sharply from today – the last step before they are abolished completely next year.

From today – Europeans travelling on the continent will pay no more than an extra – 5c per minute for calls – 2c per text message and 5c per megabyte of data.

Currently, the cap is more than triple that.

Sean Kelly MEP has said it is an important step for our digital single market: “I’m delighted because ever since I went to the European Parliament and we all felt the roaming charges were extortionate and contradictory, from the point of view that the same charge should apply right throughout the 28 member states of the European Union.

“We have been working towards that with some opposition naturally from the mobile operators.”