Brussels, 01/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The new regulation on roaming entered into force on Wednesday 1 July - a godsend to European consumers going on holiday this summer, as the new provisions allow them to make substantial savings when they use their mobile to make calls, send a text message or download data within the territory of the European Union. It is worth noting that a call made on roaming will cost no more than 0.43 euros per minute and an incoming call no more than 0.19 euros, and that these calls will also be invoiced by the second (from the 31st second onwards) rather than by the minute (for details, see EUROPE 9887). Downloading data will not exceed one euro per megabyte, on wholesale tariff. All of these measures are designed to reduce the cost of roaming by 60% once again (the initial measures, introduced in 2007, also succeeded in bringing down costs) and increase the use of mobile telephony. "The Commission and national regulators will monitor data roaming charges very carefully and assess next year whether the roaming market is finally becoming competitive", said Viviane Reding, the commissioner with responsibility for the information society and media. (I.L./trans.fl)