Long-distance service for government-issued MCI mobile phones in Iraq have been shut off due to monthly bills as high as $10,000 for a single phone.
The Coalition Provisional Authority issued the phones last year to some staff in the Green Zone in Baghdad who did not have reliable phone access.
However, the individuals never received bills, giving the impression the phone calls - that cost $1.25 a minute - were free, reported the Stars and Stripes US forces newspaper on Monday.
The US State Department made the decision to shut the phone calls down, but the military has been implementing the order.
"Unfortunately, control over the phones was a little lax," said Col. Evin Planto, director of the Communications Support Office, Multinational Force Iraq. "Now that we've got a more mature phone system, we're trying to get people to use their desktops."
Planto's staff is trying to account for the telephones, but some users took the mobile phones back to the United States, where they do not work.
Others gave them to other units or offices upon departing, and that has made policing the phones difficult, according to Planto.
US military MCI mobile calls cut in Iraq
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