Ofcom orders mobile phone companies to cut charges

British mobile phone companies will have to cut the rates that they charge each other for connecting calls to rival networks by up to 21%, according to the watchdog Ofcom.

Setting price controls for the next two years Ofcom said that Vodafone and O2 must cut their average mobile rates to 4.7 pence per minute - a cut of over 8%. T-Mobile and Orange will have to cut their rates to 4.8 pence per minute, a cut of 11%.

Ofcom wants all the operators to charge the same amount by the end of March 2011.