Mobile roaming charges should be capped at 0.40 euro ($0.52) a mi...

European Commission roaming rule as well. They included provisions for roaming tariffs to be charged by the second from the first second, for a maximum 0.11 euro a text message beginning in July, and for a top wholesale change between operators for data roaming services of 0.50 euro a megabyte charged by the kilobyte, a committee spokeswoman said. The panel rejected EC plans to lower roaming ceilings further by summer 2012, she said. Parliament members agreed with the EC that data roaming services such as sending e-mails or Web-browsing on mobile phones or laptops should be regulated at the wholesale level, but not at the EC’s proposed price of a euro a megabyte, she said. To prevent “bill shocks,” the EC wants home providers to offer users a “cut-off limit” when they reach a money limit agreed on, she said. But committee members favored a gradual approach in which operators warn their customers by mobile phone, e-mail or a pop-up window on the computer screen when they've reached 80 percent of the limit, she said. Another amendment relieves consumers of having to pay to receive roaming voicemail messages after July 1, 2010, the spokeswoman said. Parliament members begin informal talks in coming weeks with the Council of Ministers on compromise language before parliament’s first reading at the April 21-24 plenary session, she said. Although the committee made several important changes to EC proposals, Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said lawmakers approved all its main points, clearing the way for swift agreement on lower SMS and data roaming charges. The European Consumers’ Group, the BEUC, called the committee vote a “bad bargain” for users. Despite offering improvements -- lower SMS roaming charges and per-second rates -- lawmakers made other matters worse, the BEUC said. It said parliament members “can get things back on track” by ensuring that consumers are told what they've spent in euros on data roaming, not just how many megabytes they've transmitted. The BEUC also wants retail voice roaming costs lowered gradually until 2013 to ensure that reduction of wholesale tariffs benefits users, and the entire regulation extended to 2013.