The cost of calling, texting and accessing the Internet via mobile phones while abroad is about to get cheaper for European residents, following an agreement Tuesday among lawmakers over the shape of a new mobile roaming law.

Members of the European Parliament and representatives of the 27 national governments reached an informal agreement to cut prices from July 1. The compromise they struck must be rubber-stamped by both institutions, probably in April, but the hard negotiating is over, said Adina-Ioana Valean, a Romanian member of the European Parliament involved in the negotiations.