Mobile phone companies who charge customers high fees for calls outside a home country could face a clampdown unless they cut fees within six months, the European Union's top telecom regulator said today.
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.
For a peak-time four-minute call prices range from €0.2 for a Finnish customer roaming in Sweden, to €12.7 for a Maltese customer roaming in Latvia.
The Brussels executive launched a Web site ( http://europa.eu.int/information_society/roaming)today, giving details of roaming tariffs that mobile operators in the 25-nation European Union charge consumers.
Roaming charges have become a bane of holidaymakers and other travellers and Ms Reding hopes customers will use the Web site to compare prices and find a better deal.
"This will help the market develop without the need of further regulation at EU level," Ms Reding said.
"But if self-regulation does not work then we will have to take some measures ... We will have a look at this after six months," Ms Reding added.
Some operators, particularly in Greece, were not publishing fees on the Internet despite an agreement led by industry association GSM Europe to do so, Ms Reding said.