The European Commission set up a new investigation yesterday into the fees that mobile phone firms charge their subscribers when they travel abroad, writes Jamie Smyth, Technology Reporter
The Europe-wide inquiry will force mobile operators in all 25 European states, including Vodafone, O2 and Meteor, to provide evidence on their "roaming fees".
This information will be used to determine if national regulators should impose stricter regulation on mobile operators.
The inquiry by the European Commission Information Society Directorate will run in parallel with an investigation into "roaming" set up by the EU Competition Directorate in 2000.
This earlier investigation is based on competition law principles and ruled in July 2004 that Vodafone and O2 in Britain had abused a dominant position in the market for roaming. Both firms are fighting this ruling.
The Commission investigation announced yesterday will be based on a regulatory analysis of the market and will gather evidence from all EU markets to recommend a co-ordinated policy.
Ms Viviane Reding, the new Information Society and Media Commissioner, said that where "significant market power" was identified in a market, remedies should be imposed against operators.
"These could include direct controls on wholesale international roaming rates, which should, in turn, lower prices for consumers," Ms Reding said in a statement issued yesterday.
Roaming fees are the tariffs that mobile firms charge consumers for using their handsets while travelling abroad. Often, these complex tariffs are up to 20 times more expensive than regular phone calls within a state.
This year the Irish regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), postponed its investigation into roaming charges until the European Commission had issued its findings into this market.
The decision by Ms Reding to undertake a fresh investigation into the dominance of operators in the "roaming market" will put further pressure on the two biggest firms in the Republic's market.
Earlier this week, ComReg issued a controversial ruling that seeks to force open the mobile networks of O2 and Vodafone in the Republic to new competitors.
The ruling, which is likely to be challenged by both firms, accuses the operators of "tacitly colluding" in the market and will allow the regulator to intervene to set the price at which rivals can access their networks to provide services to Irish consumers.
This intervention could see the introduction of "virtual operators", which don't own a mobile network but lease airtime from a firm who does own one.
The decision of the European Commission to set up a new inquiry into "roaming charges" could signal that it is preparing to regulate it more tightly. This would suit ComReg, which must persuade the Commission to sanction its own ruling to impose stricter regulation on the sector.
The Commission said it would provide an update on its new inquiry in early 2005.
