Mr Newman says several European operators are planning to raise the wholesale rates they charge non-European operators when their customers roam onto their networks.

Cheap money led to the wholesale underpricing of risk; America ran negative real interest rates in 2002-05, even though consumer-price inflation was quiescent.

India said yesterday that wholesale prices rose 10.55 per cent in June from a year earlier, raising expectations the central bank will raise interest rates when it meets in two weeks.