EU brings mobile operators to heel

The European Union targeted mobile phone consumers with measures designed to make their lives easier and cheaper. The French industry watchdog has been given the green light to regulate the text message market. It means the wholesale price, which the operators use among themselves to deliver them, will come down.

If France goes ahead, it will become the first in Europe to fix text prices.

A text currently costs 4.3 cents and this will fall to between three and 3.5. Nearly 13 billion texts are thumbed by French consumers every year, a crock of gold for the telephone operators who rake in a cool billion euros, mostly from young people, the most avid users.

There is more joy on the way for mobile addicts who travel abroad, as roaming charges, both wholesale and retail could drop by 70 per cent by next summer. It could end what many believe is the great roaming ripoff, where prices can be 10 times higher than costs.

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