The cost of mobile calls between EU countries could soon be capped at 19 cents a minute, while text messages should cost no more than 6 cents each.
The caps were provisionally agreed in the early hours of this morning at the European Parliament after 12 hours of negotiations.
The deal has to be endorsed by both member states and the parliament before becoming law.
The deal on capping the cost of calls and texts came as part of a wider overhaul of the EU's 15-year-old telecoms laws.
"No more overly expensive calls and SMS!! Today we decided to put a cap on prices if you call or text another EU-country from your home. Good step forward," tweeted Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, a Finnish MEPs involved in negotiating the deal.
And - no more overly expensive calls and SMS!! Today we decided to put a cap on prices if you call or text another EU-country from your home. Good step forward. #EUintracalls #EECC (2/2)
— Miapetra Kumpula-N (@miapetrakumpula) June 6, 2018
The EU feted the abolition of mobile roaming charges last year with champagne and fireworks, eager to trumpet a policy that would show its benefits for the EU's 500 million citizens.
But many mobile operators, the European Commission and member states saw the capping of international calls as an unnecessary populist measure as consumers can choose to call abroad with services such as Skype, Viber and WhatsApp, which are free.
According to figures from the European Consumer Organisation BEUC, the cost of calling other EU countries currently varies from 5 cents a minute to 80 cents a minute.
"Excessive surcharges for phone calls from a consumer’s home country into another EU Member State is far from what people expect in a single market," said Ursula Pachl, deputy director general of BEUC.
