The nasty surprise of a trip abroad being followed by a hefty mobile phone bill could disappear this summer after Euro MPs voted overwhelmingly today to slash the roaming costs companies charge their users.

The European Parliament’s industry committee has endorsed draft legislation that would prevent operators from charging more than 40 cents (27p) per minute for calls made abroad and 15 cents (10p) for those received.

Paul Rübig, the Austrian Christian Democrat MEP who is steering the legislation through the Parliament, said afterwards: “Roaming charges are set to tumble. This is a major success for European consumers and a clear signal to Europe’s telecom industry."

Viviane Reding, the Telecoms Commissioner, who tabled the legislation to reduce roaming charges in July, immediately cracked open a bottle of champagne to celebrate the vote when she heard the outcome while on a visit to China.

She especially endorsed the MEPs’ decision to ensure that customers would not have to apply for the new low tariffs but would receive them automatically, unless they chose to opt for an even cheaper package that an operator might offer.

The European Commission estimates that mobile phone companies currently make up to 8.5 billion euros (£5.8 billion) profit a year from roaming charges. On average, these are four times higher than national mobile calls.

A four-minute call home to Britain from France can cost more than £3, from Spain nearer to £4, and Malta almost £5. To receive a similar-length call from Britain in any of the three countries can cost a user about £3.50.

Phone companies will have to give customers more information, making their prices more transparent. As soon as a mobile phone logs on to a network abroad, the user will receive a free text message outlining the network’s roaming costs.

Giles Chichester, a British Conservative MEP, also won support for his amendment to require operators to display an icon warning customers that they have to pay roaming charges when making or receiving calls abroad.

The draft legislation now has to be approved by the full Parliament early next month. But given that it has widespread cross-party support and was backed by 45 of the 49 committee members, this is seen almost as a formality.

It will also need to be adopted by EU governments in June. Britain is unhappy with parts of the package. It favours a flexible top rate on roaming charges and the use of legislation only as a last resort. But it has few, if any, supporters and most other EU members are expected to accept the new rules.

A jubilant European Commission spokesman said today: “There is an emerging consensus on the essential pillars of the legislation. We believe it is possible to secure lower roaming tariffs as early as July.”

The GSM Association, which represents about 700 mobile phone operators around the world, strongly criticised the vote, pointing out that roaming charges have already fallen by 25 per cent since 2005.

It cautioned that the ceilings would remove incentives for operators to invest and compete and would penalise a large number of mobile users. It objects in principle to the idea of price-capping in a market economy, but insisted that if inevitable, the cap should be set at 65 cents per minute to make a call and 35 cents to receive one.

In a statement, it predicted that the package “will force European mobile operators to offer roaming services at below cost and give them no scope to compete with each other on price and on new services. At these price levels, roaming customers will, in many cases, pay less than domestic customers for the same types of calls.”

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