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EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding will submit proposals next month to force network operators to cut the price of roaming - using a mobile phone in another country. It is a cost it considers to have been set artificially high.

But the GSMA insists that plans to cap prices do not reflect the industry's costs, the complexity of providing roaming services or the value that consumers attach to being able to use their mobile phones when travelling internationally.

'Enabling consumers to use their mobile phones on a pan-European basis is a value-added service and mobile operators should be able to charge a market-rate for this service,' said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA. 'Moreover, it is inappropriate to regulate tariffs at a pan-European level as the commercial and regulatory factors in each national market are different.'

Reding's aim of cutting roaming charges is considered to be one of the most popular EU initiatives in many a year, so it would be ironic of it was derailed by the industry.

The GSMA says that charges are already falling following voluntary cuts in wholesale prices by a number of operators.

It argues that regulating retail prices distorts competition and interferes with companies' ability to develop their own business models.

'The mobile phone industry has a long track record of innovating on services and tariffs,' Conway said. 'The European Commission's proposed intervention will curb such innovation by limiting operators' scope to develop tailored packages aimed at particular customer groups.'