Starting in July 2014, Europeans will be free of burdensome roaming charges as they travel across the European Union's 27 member states. This comes after officials voted to terminate such fees for voice calls, text messages, and internet access as part of a move to create a single European telecoms market. This is great news for French citizens hopping across the border to Germany, but it will have no impact on tourists from outside of the continent. Americans, for example, will still have their roaming fees determined by their carriers back home.

Officials hope that this change will allow Europe to begin consolidating mobile network operators in order to improve the quality of service among member states. While Europe is roughly the same size as the United States, it has different companies catering to different countries, and this fragmentation has hampered the speed of growth. The EU predicts that carriers will first see a 2 percent drop in revenue following the change, but they will recoup this loss as customers increase how often they use their devices abroad. Being free from ridiculous charges does tend to have that effect on people.

Source: The Telegraph