The European Commission on Wednesday tabled long- awaited plans to force Europe’s mobile operators to cut currently high costs for using mobile telephones abroad. Although initial, more ambitious proposals for cutting roaming charges were watered down in response to intensive lobbying by Europe’s powerful telecoms industry, EU officials said their new proposals would bring about a massive reduction in consumer spending.

Costs for calls made with mobile phones from abroad will be cut by up to 70 per cent, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters.

The commission will also put a ceiling on so-called “roaming” costs, charged by European operators for handling each other’s calls, Barroso said.

The commission chief said European consumers were currently paying unjustifiably high roaming charges.

“Operators have moved too little and too late,” he added.

Under the proposals, telecom companies will be given a transition period of six months to adapt to the new rules.

The EU executive said prices paid by consumers for roaming services within the EU should not be much higher than those charged within national borders.

An estimated 147 million Europeans using roaming services pay about 8.5 billion euros (10.8 billion dollars) for the service every year.

The commission said the new proposals - which still have to be adopted by EU governments and the European Parliament - would cut roaming charges by 5 billion euros.