Mobile phone calls in Spain 'fourth most expensive' in the EU

According to the European Commission (EC), prices between the 28 member States vary by as much as 774 per cent – from 14.7 cents per minute in The Netherlands to 1.9 cents per minute in Lithuania.

And vice-president of the Commission Neelie Kroes says there is no relation whatsoever between price, quality of service or level of buying power in customers.

After The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium are the most expensive countries in the EU to make a telephone call, at an average of 14.6 and 13.8 cents respectively, with Spain fourth.

Based upon mobile-to-mobile calls, prices per minute range from 12.7 cents in France and 9.7 cents in the UK to 8.8 cents in Germany and 6.9 cents in Italy.

International calls on a mobile are cheaper in Spain at an average of 65 cents per minute than in Belgium, where customers spend 97 cents, or Germany at 75 cents, whilst in the UK calling a number abroad on a mobile costs an eye-watering 1.19 euros.

France, Italy and Hungary charge just 35 cents per minute for an overseas call from a mobile phone.

Ms Kroes says telecommunications customers are 'not benefiting from the common European market' the way they should do, with uniform prices, and adds that it is 'essential' for the EU to develop this in order to ensure 'a truly connected continent'.

She reveals that there is little difference in the cost of basic goods between the 28 member States, with a litre of milk averaging at between 69 and 99 cents in any of the countries, a difference of around 43 per cent.

And despite the vast disparities in calling costs from country to country, the price of buying an iPad only varies by around 11 per cent within the EU, Ms Kroes reveals.

She intends to put forward her findings and a package aimed at consolidating a single telecommunications market at a Commission meeting in September.