EU tackles mobile phone charges

Brussels is set to clamp down on widely differing prices charged by Europe’s mobile phone operators for customers who use their phones abroad.

The European Commission said on Monday that it will launch a new website listing international roaming tariffs across Europe in a bid to encourage operators to give their customers a better deal when phoning from abroad.

International roaming charges differ greatly throughout the EU; varying from € 0.58 per minute from Cyprus to Finland with a Finnish subscription, to €5.01 per minute from Malta to Poland with a Polish subscription.

European Commissioner for Information Society Viviane Reding called for greater transparency and said that present prices do not reflect effective competition. 

“I am convinced that substantially more progress from the industry is both necessary and possible. We need to get to a stage where consumers can benefit from better deals than they are currently getting."

The proposed website - due to be launched in the autumn - is supported by national telecom regulators which will coordinate action on tariff transparency for international roaming.

The move follows an inquiry by the European Commission's into roaming charges in Germany and Britain.

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