Bouygues Telecom, the third-largest operator in France, announced it will scrap roaming charges in Europe for calls, SMS and data.

From 24 February, subscribers on its Sensation mobile packages, starting at €29.99 per month, will not be charged extra for calls and SMS to and from European countries and French overseas territories.

They will also be able to use 3GB of data per month (including picture messages) in addition to their existing data allowance. Users can also call and message people travelling with them who have a French mobile number for no extra charge.

The lack of roaming charges applies for a maximum of 35 days per calendar year.

The European Commission has been fighting to reduce roaming charges in Europe for some time.

In December, Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission and digital agenda chief, warned operators they will face more regulation to bring them into line if they don’t scrap premium roaming fees by 2016.

The current EC approach, according to Kroes, is to encourage operators to shift voluntarily towards “roam like at home” packages for customers travelling across the EU.

T-Mobile US recently scrapped what it called “exorbitant” international roaming rates. Consumers and business customers signed up to its ‘Simple Choice’ plan automatically get unlimited data and texting in more than 100 countries worldwide (albeit on slower 2G networks).

According to T-Mobile US figures, high roaming costs see more than 40 per cent of customers turn off data roaming completely, while another 20 per cent say they would if they knew how.

Dropping roaming charges could boost Bouygues in a French mobile market that has seen a price war since the beginning of 2012, following the arrival of new low-cost entrant Free Mobile.

Free introduced 4G services at no additional charge in December, putting pressure on the other operators who hoped to charge higher prices for 4G services to recoup some of the profits hit by the arrival of Free.

Bouygues made its 4G services available without a price hike shortly after Free.