You may soon be able to say a long awaited farewell to those hideous phone bills greeting you on return from holidays. 

Anyone who has ever regretted calling their mother on Viber or checking in on Facebook while chilling on foreign shores will be delighted with today's news, as the EU has reached a preliminary deal to abolish mobile roaming charges.

The draft agreement applies to the 28-country union and is set to come into effect by June 2017.

Representatives for Latvia, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said: “Under the agreement, roaming surcharges in the European Union will be abolished as of June 15th, 2017.”

The statement came after 12 hours of talks. 

The agreement is not yet set in stone, however, as it will require approval from the European Parliament and EU member states.

Customers are still in line to see changes very soon though, as roaming charges are already set to drop in April 2016. New limits for maximum surcharges look set to make roaming up to 75 per cent cheaper.