Plans to reduce mobile phone and internet rates and introduce a maximum rate within the European Union were accepted by the European parliament on Thursday, the NRC reports.

The new rates within and between EU countries, presented to the European parliament by digital affairs commissioner Neelie Kroes in 2011, mean the costs will go down from this July, with further reductions planned for the next two years.
The maximum prices mean a telephone call will cost at most 29 cents a minute, exclusive of value-added tax (btw). Text messaging will cost up to nine cents and internet 70 cents a megabyte.
From July 2014, European citizens will be able to keep their local net number if they take a contract with a provider in another EU country.
It is hoped greater competition between providers will keep the rates low.