Telecom announced today it is temporarily reducing the cost of mobile roaming text rates; customers will be able to pay $10 for 100 texts while roaming in Australia, until 31 July, 2011.

Telecom Retail's chief marketing officer Kieren Cooney said the reduced rates will give XT customers "certainty and flexibility" over trans-Tasman roaming text rates.

Telecom is also permanently reducing data roaming rates in Australia. Standard postpaid data roaming rates, in Australia, have been cut from $8 to $2.50 per MB, with an option to buy 100MB packs for $100.

For prepaid customers, Australian roaming rates have been reduced to $4 per MB, with an option to buy a 10MB bundle for $10.

This brings the telco more in line with Vodafone and 2degrees, which both lowered their data roaming rates in Australia last month, to $1/MB and $2.50/MB respectively, after the Government launched a joint inquiry into the high rates.

A recent Ministry of Economic Development survey found four out of five businesses considered the cost of data roaming to be prohibitive to business.