Mobile roaming charges not scrapped

A bid to scrap all mobile phone "roaming" charges by 2014 has been defeated, as a war of words broke out between the European Commission and Vodafone over a continued crackdown on the sector.

Compulsory maximum roaming rates were first imposed on mobile network operators nearly five years ago to tackle what the commission called the "roaming rip-off" - the operators were said to be making profits of more than 200% for mobile calls made while in another EU country, and 300% or 400% for calls received.