British mobile group Vodafone is cutting the price of telephone calls for travelling customers by up to 80 per cent.
The world's largest mobile phone company by revenue said customers using its Vodafone Passport deal would be charged a one-off connection fee to receive and make a call and then be able to telephone at domestic rates when abroad.
Vodafone said UK contract customers in Spain making a five-minute call to a mobile or fixed-line number back home, using their inclusive minutes, would be charge 75 pence compared to £3.75 under existing price plans, a saving of 80 per cent.
Italian pre-pay customers making a 10 minute call to Italy while travelling in France would see their charges fall to €2.15 from €10 with Vodafone Passport, it added.
The deal is available to customers in Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden from June 1st and in Albania, Australia, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, Portugal and the UK "during the coming months", it said.
But the best roaming rates apply only to customers who ensure they select Vodafone subsidiary networks when they travel. Customers also have to opt in for the free service.
The hefty price of "roaming", which can cost customers 50 pence to 150 pence per minute to make a call while abroad - and 30p to 130p per minute to receive one - have been dubbed a "rip off" by UK start-up SIM4travel, which is selling cut-price mobile phone cards.
Although European mobile phone operators are keen to shore up revenues with lucrative roaming charges, they also want to encourage travelling customers to keep their phones switched on by simplifying complex tariff structures.