The cost of some mobile phone calls will be cut by up to 50 per cent over the next three years, following a High Court ruling on Friday.

Forum Response: National Consumer Council

Jill Johnstone, head of policy at National Consumer Council, said: "This is good news for consumers - at last the mobile phone firms will have to stop overcharging their customers.

"People have had no choice but to pay these termination charges - consumers have been the mobile phone companies' cash cow for far too long.

"It's high time the mobile phone companies stopped wasting their customers' money on lawyers' fees - they have sought to block any reduction in these charges every step of the way.

"People should see an immediate and real reduction in their phone bills - and NCC will be watching closely to make sure this happens."

Forum Response: Consumers' Association

Allan Williams, senior policy adviser at the Consumers' Association, said: "The High Court's decision is great news for the consumer. Consumers' Association's conclusions have been confirmed by Oftel, the Competition Commission and now the High Court.

"The mobile phone firms made their case on prices to Oftel - they lost. They made their case to the Competition Commission - they lost again.

"They made their case to the High Court - and lost again. Now perhaps they will stop whinging and cut their call termination charges.

"The whole point of this case was that mobile phone firms were ripping consumers off with charges that they simply could not see. If firms have to change their tariffs in a more open way, then so be it.

"If the market really is as competitive as the mobile firms argue, then they won't all jack up the cost of handsets or fiddle with their text charges.

"If they do re-jig their charges in a confusing way, then they will prove how badly this market works for consumers. If this happens, Consumers' Association will be straight back to Oftel demanding they take further action.

"Perhaps mobile phone companies will finally get the message that they cannot continue to rip-off consumers and must charge a fair price for calls to their networks."