(BRUSSELS) - EU ministers are set to back plans to cap the cost of text messaging via mobile phone while abroad to 11 euro cents (14 US cents), as part of a bill-cutting European package, an EU source said Monday.

The move, which European Union telecoms ministers will discuss on Thursday, follows successful EU action to cap the cost of voice calls made abroad within the EU, after which practically all 27 EU member states were in favour of taking the measure further, the source close to the French EU presidency said.

The European Parliament has yet to consider the texting price issue but the hope is that the chamber will do so by the middle of next year, according to the source.

The plan is to have the 11-cent ceiling in place for SMS (short message service) operations ahead of the 2009 summer holidays.

The EU nations have also long debated the issue of how to time phone calls, amid concerns that too many operators were rounding call times up to the next minute.

According to the EU presidency source, the telecoms ministers are set to agree on a deal that would allow companies to charge for 30 seconds for even the shortest of calls.

Calls over 31 seconds long would however be billed by the second, as suggested by the European Commission.

The EU ministers will also consider a commission plan to bring down the cost of surfing the internet via mobile phone while abroad, either on a phone or lap top computer.

Brussels wants to see a one-euro-per-megabyte cap on such internet use, with an automatic message to inform users of the tariff, as they cross an EU border.

Under the scheme users would also be able to set themselves a maximum charge before the service is cut.

The member states would also like to go further in establishing measures to protect less well-informed consumers, the source said.

Under that part of the scheme, telecom network operators would have to inform their clients whenever the cost of their connection reaches 50 euros, and to seek confirmation that the user wants to continue.

Telecommunications Council

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