Vodafone targets holidaymakers in price war

15th May 2009 13:54

Tens of thousands of Vodafone customers will be able to leave their mobile phones on while on holiday this summer without having to worry about paying exorbitant charges for receiving a phone call.The mobile phone giant is suspending roaming charges to 45 regions with effect from 15 May until the end of August, which means that receiving phone calls in those regions will be free, just as they are when those same users receive phone calls back home in Blighty.The changes will also make it cheaper for Vodafone subscribers to make phone calls and send text messages while in any of the 45 regions, most of which are in Europe, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand; America and Japan are not covered by the new deal.Data transmission rates remain unchanged, however, which is bad news for mobile internet customers who might be stuck in the middle of nowhere, desperate to access a road map online having taken a wrong turn just outside Avignon. Vodafone is also cutting the cost of making calls abroad from Britain.The offer period straddles the introduction on 1 July of new roaming costs for Europe, as dictated by the European Parliament. As of July, all mobile carriers that offer services in EU countries will find their roaming charges capped, with the maximum fee per minute for a call made from abroad in an EU country set at €0.43. The maximum fee for an incoming call will be €0.19.Costs of text messages sent abroad will also be cut, from a maximum of €0.28 a message to no more than €0.11.Further cuts are planned for 2010 and 2011.Vodafone’s move looks certain to spark a response from its rivals. O2 has announced plans to cut the cost of sending a text message from a British phone in Europe from 25p to 11p, which suggests that the company is banking on the euro being worth more than sterling by then.O2 said it would also offer UK customers free calls while they are abroad in Europe.Orange has also said it plans to cut the cost of text messages from abroad in July.The roaming charges have proved lucrative for the mobile phone carriers, hence the European Parliament’s intervention, and will hit profits at a time when the explosive growth in mobile phone usage finally seems to be slowing down.Earlier this week O2 revealed that average revenue per UK user had fallen by 3.6% in the past three months, with users sending fewer texts and the company offering cheaper deals in order to retain customers.