The regulation was approved by the European Parliament on Wednesday. It can become law after formal endorsement of the telecoms ministers' council on June 7 and its publication in the Official Journal.

    "The European Commission calls on the Germany presidency to make sure that publication is not delayed any further. Consumers are waiting for this regulation," a commission spokesman said.

    "We see no reason why -- as all the texts are there, in all languages -- should (the publication of the text) last much longer after June 7."

    "It is done -- every word has been agreed; every comma has been agreed; it is available in all languages. So publish the Official Journal as soon as possible," said the commission spokesman.

    The rapporteur on the roaming tariffs issue in the European Parliament, Paul Rubig, said in a statement on Tuesday that the regulation can be published in the Official Journal "within 24 hours of its official signing by both institutions -- the Parliament and the Council."

    The parliament on Wednesday approved a compromise package negotiated between the parliament and the EU member states.

    The package sets "caps" for both charges to mobile phone users (retail prices) and inter-operator charges (wholesale prices).

    Under the package, the cap for outgoing calls made abroad will be 49 euro cents per minute. The cap will decrease automatically by 3 cents per year in the following two years after the entry into force of the regulation.

    The cap for receiving calls abroad will be 24 cents. It will drop to 22 cents after the first year, and to 19 cents in the following year.

    The average wholesale charge that a "visited" operator can levy on a roaming customer's "home" operator for the provision of roaming calls will be capped at 30 cents per minute.

    The compromise package also ensures that the tariffs would apply by default unless the customer chooses otherwise.

    According to the package, operators will have a month following the entry into force to make the tariffs available to its customers.

    In theory, customers may be able to benefit from the cheaper charges immediately after the regulation's entry into force -- assuming their operators waste no time in offering and activating the new rates and they themselves waste no time in choosing them.

    The cap on the average wholesale prices will automatically take effect two months after the entry into force of the legislation.

    The early into force of the regulation, therefore, is in line with the interests of the consumers.