EU in draft deal on capping phone roaming prices

BRUSSELS, March 24 (Reuters) - The European Union has reached a draft deal on capping the wholesale cost of using a laptop to surf the Internet while travelling outside a home state, an EU diplomat said on Tuesday.

"The roaming deal is done," the diplomat said.

EU regulators and the European Commission want to end "bill shock", when business travellers or holidaymakers return home to huge charges for checking emails or surfing the Web while away.

The law also caps the price to consumers of roamed text messages and extends by three years to 2012 current EU price limits on roamed voice calls.

The European Parliament and EU states struck a deal on the measure at a meeting in Strasbourg, France, and parliament will endorse the agreement next month. (Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Dale Hudson)