Telefonica Against EU's Rate Cut Proposals

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Telefonica said Wednesday it isn't in favor of calls by the European Commission to cut wholesale termination rates, or the fees phone companies charge each other to connect calls, across the continent.

"We think that it isn't the right moment to open the debate in the sector," Carlos Lopez Blanco, the head of Telefonica's international office, said at a telecom conference in Paris.

European Union commissioner for information society and media Viviane Reding has called for cuts of up to 70% in termination rates in Europe.

Blanco said Telefonica hopes the French presidency of the E.U. will introduce a number of changes to the regulatory package for the telecom sector proposed by Reding.

Telefonica is Spain's largest telecommunications company by market value and subscribers.

-By Jethro Mullen, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 4017 1740, jethro.mullen@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 2nd July 2008