§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list in rank order information available to him on the cost of local telephone calls for all countries within the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. ForthThere is no standard measure which enables comparisons to be made between the cost of local calls in different community countries. For example, the average local call area is particularly large in the United Kingdom, which means that many calls at local rates here would be charged at long distance rates in other countries. One recent survey, based on rates during an 8am-6pm working day, and averaging prices for BT and Mercury, found the prices in pounds sterling for a three minute call to be:
£ United Kingdom 0.098 Germany 0.072 France 0.056 Italy 0.054 Source: National Utility Services, February 1989.
However, Oftel has produced figures comparing costs of an average resident's telephone bill and the cost of an average business bill in the four European countries which in terms of population and size are most readily comparable. The figures are (as indices, excluding VAT):
Residential basket Business basket United Kingdom 100 100 France 78 85 Italy 101 122 West Germany 103 106 OFTEL, January 1989.