Brussels, 08/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The average prices to make or receive a call from abroad, in European countries, have fallen 22% since 2005, was the reply of the GSM Association (GSMA), in response to the study published on Tuesday by the European Commission, criticising roaming prices which it states are still excessive (see EUROPE 9301). According to the study carried out by the consultancy firm AT Kearney, which based its calculations on prices practised this summer by the most frequently used mobile operators in 19 European countries, the average price of a call made or received has fallen from 83 to around 65 euros cents between 2005 and 2006. "This summer, users paid substantially less to make or receive a call than in 2005, and we are convinced that roaming tariffs will continue to drop. The European mobile telephony market is highly competitive and competition continues to lower prices and help innovative tariff packages to emerge", stressed Tom Phillips, who is in charge of governance and regulation issues at GSMA. He went on to explain that the regulation on roaming put together by the Commission will have the opposite effect to the one it aims for, and will end up discouraging operators from proposing made-to-measure tariffs for the consumer, who will in turn end up suffering the most. GSMA publishes a table of retail tariffs for mobile calls, which it intends to keep updated at the following address: http: //http://www.roaming.gsmeurope.org. (il)