Wireless subscribers are paying as much as $15 in data fees to download a single song in Europe, according to research conducted by mBlox, a mobile billing and distribution firm. The company concluded that operators are in some cases charging exorbitant data fees, particularly for prepaid customers, while others are charging as little as $1.16 to download a track.

If mobile music isn’t taking off, it’s likely because songs either cost too much, or at the minimum, people have no idea what they’ll be paying. mBlox looked at operators’ terms and conditions across five countries between October and November to locate what it calls “hidden costs.” mBlox found the highest pay-as-you-go data fees in the U.K. where carriers charge as much as $15 to download a 2 megabyte track. In Germany, it found relatively low fees of 35 cents per megabyte. “Ultimately we believe the price consumers see should be the price they pay. The current system of data pricing is severely restricting the growth of the mobile content market as consumers fear facing frightening bills,” said Andrew Bud, executive chairman of mBlox. The company is using the data it found to encourage the carriers to implement a business model that will hopefully increase the adoption of mobile content throughout the industry. Release.