Data charges cut in Europe

Three European mobile operators - 3, KPN and Play - have said they'll cut their roaming charge for data usage to 25 Euro cents per MB from 1 March 2008. They're responsible for five brands in a total of 10 countries (KPN in the Netherlands, BASE in Belgium, E-Plus in Germany, Play in Poland and 3 in Britain, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Sweden and Denmark), which covers over 295 million customers (around 60% of the EU). Meanwhile, Vodafone said it's preparing to cut its costs later this year. The cuts follow comments by EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding, who'd said she wanted to see text and data charges reduced this year. [Sources: TheRegister.co.uk, Guardian.co.uk, Reuters.co.uk]