The abolition of mobile phone roaming charges within the European Union will commence on June 15th 2017.

The date of the abolition has been confirmed by EU Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip, who has responsibility for the digital market.

Vice-President Ansip is in Dublin today for talks with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and technology company leaders.

Ruth Deasy of the EU Commission says this is great news for Irish people using their mobile phones elsewhere in the European Union from next June.

However, the abolition of fees will only apply for periods under consecutive 30 days.

The European Commission also revealed that free roaming can only be enjoyed for a total of 90 days in any one year.

The 'fair use' clarification from Brussels states that operators will be permitted to charge top-up fees of 4c per minute, 1c per SMS and 0.85c per megabyte of data in some circumstances.

Customers suspected of abusing the 'roam-like-at-home' benefits must be notified, however, before being hit with a surcharge.