UK mobile operators face roaming tariff crackdown

The UK's mobile phone operators will have to face some stiff questions about their roaming tariffs after the European Union (EU) confirmed that an investigation into the market will focus on Britain and Germany.

A spokesman from the office of European competition commissioner Mario Monti told silicon.com today that mobile phone operators in the UK have raised "significant concerns" for the EU over their roaming tariffs.

Monti also told German newspapers today that he felt the prices are too high to allow effective competition.

He claimed raids on the offices of some of Germany's mobile operators late last year had produced documentary evidence of this.

The spokesman from Monti's office said: "We have an ongoing investigation into international roaming tariffs and we are now looking at the markets where evidence of excessive charges seems to be highest - the UK and Germany.

"We think some concrete action will be taken this year."

Those companies under the microscope include mm02, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone.