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Under the new pricing scheme, standard calls will cost 8p per minute and text messages will cost just 4p.

ASDA is lowering costs independently of Vodafone, on which the company runs its virtual network. In fact, Vodafone announced this week that it would be raising costs.

Almost all wireless suppliers have announced price rises in recent months. On Tuesday Vodafone announced that it would be raising its pay-as-you-go prices for standard calls from 15p per minute to 20p, while contract customers would see a 3p increase in over-tariff calls to 15p per minute.

T-Mobile and O2 have also announced similar cost increases in recent months. The moves are a reaction to EU intervention in the cost of roaming call costs and mobile termination fees, the charges that mobile suppliers levy upon landline suppliers to carry incoming calls on their networks.

The EU telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, suggested that termination costs should be reduced by up to 70%, and has also brought about a considerable reduction in roaming charges for mobile customers.