Travellers will pay less for sending text messages abroad this summer after the EU threatened it would force mobile companies to cut excessive bills unless they did so voluntarily.

In February, Viviane Reding, the EU Telecoms Commissioner, blasted mobile firms for charging between three and 25 times more for sending a text aboard than at home, and set a deadline of today, July 1, for the companies to slash fees.

"The EU encourages its citizens to study in other countries, we make it attractive for tourists to travel in Europe – we cannot at the same time allow the mobile phone industry to rip off customers who make use of these freedoms," said Reding. She also called for mobile firms to cut charges for accessing the internet abroad.

Already there have been a spate of price cuts by the big operators . T Mobile is cutting texts from EU countries from 40p to 25p, and the cost of accessing the internet from £7.50 per megabyte to £1.50. O2 has cut the cost of texts from 49p to 25p and the cost of using the internet to £3 per megabyte.

However, it remains to be seen if these cuts will be enough to appease the Commissioner, who said she thinks texts sent abroad should only cost a couple of pence more than at home. Reding will now assess all the recent price cuts and announce in the next few weeks whether she will force official price caps on the operators.

"The EU cannot accept that mobile operators make up to 20 times more profit on roaming customers than on their domestic customers," she said.