The EU roaming bill is likely to become law at the end of June and operators will have three months before it has to be extended to all customers.

Many mobile phone customers already have roaming services that are below the bill's 49 cent a minute cap but it will not be until three months later that all customers are automatically put on the new rate.

This means that customers will have to ask their providers for the new rate as none of the three main Irish market players, Vodafone, O2 and Meteor, are promising to reduce their charges until then. The Consumer Association of Ireland (CAI) says the mobile phone companies of waiting as long as possible before passing on the reduced costs to consumers.

"These cuts should be passed on immediately to customers, not dragged out, " said Michael Kilcoyne, chairman of the CAI.

"The money we were paying on roaming up to this point was off the wall and bore no comparison to the cost of providing the service. Whoever is minister for consumer affairs after the election should force this issue, " he said.

The Sunday Tribune asked Ireland's four mobile phone operators if charges in other areas will be increased to compensate for reduced roaming revenue with only one company giving a definitive "no".

"It is a bit to early to say how the legislation will affect the company, " said a spokesperson for Meteor while O2 would not offer any further comment then saying they will "comply fully with the regulations".

3 Ireland insisted there would be no increase in charges, while Vodafone Ireland's head of communications insisted "no" but only after an extended pause, before going on to say, "I think we need to consider the implications of the bill."

The bill was wholeheartedly welcomed by 3 Ireland as it will also reduce the cap on "wholesale" calls they buy from other operators such as Vodafone and 02.

"Currently we are paying an average of 80 cent a minute to use other networks to connect our calls to countries where we don't operate, the legislation will bring that down to 26 cent a minute" said Rachel Channing of 3 Ireland.

Neither Vodafone or 02 would comment on the bill's impact to their wholesale call business.