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By Gemma Simpson, 13 February 2007 14:35

NEWS

T-Mobile is to slash its data roaming rates for business customers by more than half.

The prices will be cut from £7.50 per megabyte to £3 per megabyte for UK-based business travellers roaming in nine European countries and the US. The new charges are due to come into effect from 16 February 2007.

Max Miller, head of interconnect and roaming at T-Mobile, told silicon.com customers can expect these prices to be further reduced as wholesale roaming rates (the amount one operator charges another) come down more over the year.

Miller said: "This is not a move that has been done in the short term. It is part of a planned series of price cuts."

This is the first time T-Mobile has reduced its data roaming costs - the operator cut roaming costs for voice calls last year.

T-Mobile said it cut costs for business customers first because they make up the majority of its data users. Plans are afoot to offer a similar initiative to reduce data roaming rates for consumers in time for the summer holidays, according to the company.

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Another mobile operator - O2 - today extended the reach of its 'all you can eat' free roaming service to cover 31 countries.

While 3 did away with roaming charges last month.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said the operator would not be revising its data roaming costs in the short term but added it already offers data roaming packages at a "reasonable rate" with fixed rate charges of £45 to £95 per month. The most expensive deal gives users 100MB of data for the month; every megabyte used after that costs £2.

The European Commission has threatened to regulate roaming charges if mobile operators do not reduce rates themselves. Last year Vivianne Reding, the EC's information society and media commissioner, announced she hoped roaming rates would fall by up to 70 per cent.