4 December 2008
The EU Commission's proposals to put a cap on the charges mobile phone operators can levy for text messages sent across European borders has been welcomed by Ofcom.
Responding to the move, a spokesperson for the communications regulator said Ofcom has been calling for these charges to come down for some time.
Elizabeth De Winton said: "We also welcome moves to protect consumers from 'bill shock' when using data services abroad."
Indeed, as well as placing a price cap on text messages, the commission also proposed a limit on the prices that can be charged for accessing the web via mobile phones.
It also said operators should charge customers per second for phone calls, not per minute as is often the case. Ms De Winton said Ofcom strong supports efforts to curb this practice.
According to a recent report by Ofcom, there were almost 74 million mobile phone connections in the UK by the end of 2007.
Consumers worried about the size of their mobile phone bills could switch suppliers to benefit from cheaper call rates.