BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- The European Union Commission said Friday it has requested new information from mobile phone operators in its investigation of pricing of international mobile roaming calls.
The requests are part of the E.U. Commission's long investigation into mobile phone companies and the hefty prices charged to customers who use cell phones abroad. Mobile firms provide customers with a roaming service by reaching deals with operators in other countries to tag on to their systems without a government-issued operating license in that country.
Regulators began looking into roaming-fee policies more than three years ago, on suspicion that phone operators - including Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) and T-Mobile International AG (TMO.YY) - collude on prices and overcharge consumers. In July, regulators charged Vodafone and mm02 PLC (OOM) with exploiting a dominant position in the U.K. by overcharging customers from overseas using their phones in the U.K.
Regulators said the information gathered will help determine whether mobile firms wield "significant market power" and if conditions should be imposed to ensure competition among operators. These could include direct regulatory control over roaming rates, which, the E.U. Commission says, would result in lower prices for consumers.
For mobile phone companies, the stakes are high, with roaming charges accounting for more than 10% of total turnover. The E.U. Commission can impose fines of up to 10% of a company's global turnover, although such a fine has never been imposed.
-By Steve de Bonvoisin, Dow Jones Newswires; +32-2-741-14-84; steve.debonvoisin@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 9th December 2004
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/11422.php