The European Commission wants to lower phone charges in Europe by around 70 per cent over the next three years.
The EC says the consumer pays for the lack of regulation in Europe through expensive mobile termination rate charges.
Mobile termination rates are charged by one operator to connect a call from another network and are ultimately paid for by the consumer.
Viviane Reding, EU telecoms commissioner said: “Call termination markets in the EU need a regulatory plumber. Over the next three years, I expect greater consistency and coordination to bring the costs for mobile phone calls down by around 70 per cent from the current level.”
However, mobile phone companies claim the rates are necessary and warn the new rules could force prices up elsewhere.
Mobile phone operators are estimated to make 15 per cent of their revenues from the charges.
Richard Feasey, Vodafone’s head of public policy, said: “The cost of owning a mobile phone could go up for some users, particularly hurting the many millions of Europeans on lower incomes who typically pay around €10 (£8) a month today and are on pre-pay tariffs.”
National regulators should be allowed to get on with the job of setting efficient prices, Voafone said.
The Commission “appears to be proposing that Europe adopts a US-style wholesale pricing regime, under which mobile users pay a greater proportion of the costs rather than share it with those who call them,” Mr Feasey added.
The proposed rules would also reduce the large sums for call termination which smaller mobile operators have to pay to large operators when they try to compete with the latter with the very popular flat rate offers, the EU said.
This would benefit companies like 3UK, which welcomed the consultation.
Kevin Russell, chief executive, said: “Prices must come down. The current level of wholesale mobile termination rates mean inflated costs for calls to mobiles, this unnecessarily causes £2.5 billion a year to be exchanged between operators and comes at a high cost to the British consumer.
“Change is long overdue.”
At the moment the national telecoms regulators decide on tariffs, resulting in very divergent rates across the EU.
Mobile termination rates range from €0.02/min (in Cyprus) to over €0.18/min (in Bulgaria) and are nine times higher than fixed line termination rates (on average €0.0057/min for local call termination).
The EU will make a final decision in October.
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