Intra-EU phone calls to be capped at 19 cents/min from May 15

Phone calls made from one EU country to another EU country will be capped at 19 euro cents per minute effective May 15, the European Commission said on Monday, part of a decade-long battle to bring down costs for the bloc's 500 million citizens. The maximum tariff for phone messages will be 6 cents. The price caps followed a landmark decision two years ago which scrapped roaming charges for using mobile phones within the 28-country bloc.

A Commission study published last year showed that the cost of an intra-EU call at an average 76 cents was more than three times that of a domestic call costing an average 21 cents. Phone messages sent from one EU country to another EU country cost more than twice as much domestic messages, the study showed. "The new telecoms rules will help the EU to meet growing connectivity needs of Europeans and boost the EU's competitiveness," Commission digital chief Andrus Ansip said in a statement. The price caps will also cover non-EU members Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein once the rules are incorporated in the European Economic Area agreement.