Oftel set to enforce mobile price cuts

Mobile phone running costs could fall this autumn if Oftel decides next month to impose further price caps on mobile services.

Analysts expect Oftel to continue current price caps on landline-to-mobile calls, set nine per cent below inflation, and to extend price limits to mobile-to-mobile calls.

The limits could reduce users' bills by an average of around 10 per cent.

But the move could cost leading operators such as Orange, BT Cellnet and Vodafone hundreds of millions of pounds in lost average revenues.

It would hit their share prices even harder, as City investors place great stock in the average revenue per customer earned by the operators.

Users could have already been enjoying cheaper calls, as Oftel was originally scheduled to publish its decision last month. It now says its extended investigation means that its report won't be ready until September at the earliest.