The watchdog wants to stimulate mobile phone competition

The Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority (JCRA) says Jersey Telecom's mobile call prices are too high.

It says other mobile phone companies should be encouraged into the island to ensure better prices for customers.

Jersey Telecom said it regularly compared its tariffs against UK and European tariffs to ensure they were competitive and among the lowest.

Cost savings

The company is the only provider of telephone services on the island and the JCRA said it had been looking at what areas it can regulate the firm.

The JCRA said: "The aim of price control is to encourage Jersey Telecom to achieve efficiencies and cost savings, which will in turn be passed on to customers in the form of lower charges for its services."

It said if no other companies came to the island to set up mobile services soon, it would look at introducing a pricing strategy to stimulate competition.

It also said the phone firm should not increase its prices by any more than 2% below inflation.

Jersey Telecom said its mobile tariffs were designed to suit the needs of its customers and offered value for money.