–BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Union's (EU) telecoms chief told mobile phone operators yesterday that the "rip-off" costs they charge for wireless Internet and text messages must come down by July 1 to avoid EU intervention.

Under threat of a price cap on data roaming, phone companies Vodafone Group plc., Royal KPN NV of the Netherlands and Germany's E-Plus all announced price drops last week to bring down the cost of using phones outside consumers' home nation.

EU Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding said this was a good first move, but insisted far more was needed to slash high costs faced by holidaymakers and business travelers sending a text or checking e-mail on wireless devices like the BlackBerry.

"The EU cannot accept that mobile operators make up to 20 times more profit on roaming customers than on their domestic customers," she said in a meeting with mobile phone company chief executives in Barcelona.

"To avoid regulation, the industry will have to show its responsiveness to consumer concerns by credible reductions," she said.

Costs people pay for making mobile phone calls outside their home countries have dropped by up to 60 percent since the European Commission capped fees last September. But this price cap does not cover mobile Internet or some 200 billion text messages that are sent a year in western Europe.

Ms. Reding said she would accept charges of two or three euro cents (three or four US cents) above domestic texting charges but anything more was unjustifiable.

Crossing a border within the EU's 27 nations can hike the costs of sending a text message by up to 25 times, according to a European regulators' report last month. The cost of a text at home is between five and 10 euro cents (seven to 14 US cents) but the average cost of sending one abroad is 29 euro cents (42 US cents) and can go as high as 50 euro cents (73 US cents).

Ms. Reding said she would be more reluctant to intervene in data downloading because the market is still growing and operators are testing different price models to boost uptake.

But mobile operators need to be clearer about what they do charge consumers to avoid "shock bills" of several thousand euros for accessing the Internet from a phone. She also called for all companies to offer one cheap data roaming package based on a single extra fee.

Downloading one megabyte of data on a mobile phone costs an average of 5.24 euros ($7.60) - but as much as 11 euros ($16) in Poland and Luxembourg, the European Regulators Group said.

This can mean 15 euros ($21.77) for downloading a song on to a mobile phone, 10 euros ($14.51) for a PowerPoint presentation or one euro ($1.45) to two euros ($2.90) for a single newspaper article.

Mr. Reding said she had to act because the growth of mobile Internet in Europe has so far been disappointing - and high charges are to blame.

The GSM Association - which represents most European mobile operators - said any EU intervention was premature and companies had their own interest in setting prices low enough to encourage use.

Europe's love affair with mobile phones is unrivaled, with handsets in use outnumbering the region's 490 million people.