The EU's telecoms regulator says mobile phone companies which charge customers high fees for calls outside a home country could face a clampdown unless they cut fees within six months.
Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, said so-called roaming charges were too high and must come down. 'There are signs that competition is developing but it's still not satisfactory,' she told a news conference yesterday.
For a peak-time four-minute call prices range from 20 cent for a Finnish customer roaming in Sweden, to €12.70 for a Maltese customer roaming in Latvia.
The EU Commission launched a web site - http://europa.eu.int/information_society/roaming - giving details of roaming tariffs that mobile operators in the EU charge consumers.
Roaming charges have become a bane of holidaymakers and other travellers and Reding hopes customers will use the site to compare prices and find a better deal.
