With an average cost of €0.13.3 (13 cents) per minute, Malta’s mobile costs put her at the fourth highest place in the EU, figures published by the European Commission on Monday show. The average EU cost is €0.09.1.
Mobile users across the European Union face huge price differences for the same services. The biggest price difference is in domestic mobile calls – a 774% difference between Lithuania, the cheapest country, and Netherlands, the most expensive.
These price differences cannot be explained by differences in quality, differences in the cost to provide the service or by differences between countries in consumer purchasing power.
EU data compiled for Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes showed that the average cost per minute for national mobile calls in 2011 varied from €0.01.9 in Lithuania to €0.14.7 in The Netherlands.
Among the biggest national markets, the difference is also flagrant, the Commission figures showed.
It costs just €0.06.9 to place a national mobile call in Italy and €0.08.8 in the EU's biggest country, Germany.
That's broadly in line with the €0.09.7 across Britain – while France charges, on average, €0.12.7 and Spain €0.13.3.
European Commission vice-president Neelie Kroes said: "As these numbers clearly show, the 28 national telecoms markets in Europe today are not benefitting consumers like a single market would. It is critical for the whole EU to move quickly to build a real single market to achieve a truly connected continent."
There are much smaller price differentials in other categories of basic goods and services in the European single market. For example a litre of milk can be bought for between €0.69 and €0.99 wherever they are in the EU, a price difference of 43%. An occasional purchase like an iPad is subject to only an 11% price difference across the EU.
In September, vice-president Neelie Kroes will present a new package aimed at strengthening the Telecoms single market.
She said a "truly connected continent" would require rapid action to turn the EU's fabled single market of half a billion consumers, the world's biggest, into a reality for individuals and households.