Commission launches second phase of telecommunications sector inquiry on mobile roaming
The European Commission has begun investigations into the conditions and pricing of national and international mobile roaming and how these square with Community competition rules, in response to complaints that roaming charges are too high. Almost 200 formal information requests have been sent out by the Competition Directorate-General to national competition authorities and telecommunications regulators across Europe, and to mobile network operators and service providers. The responses, due within two months, will form the basis of their enquiries. Mobile roaming occurs when mobile phone users use their telephone handset on a different mobile network to the one they subscribe to, and is based on bilateral roaming agreements between different mobile operators and service providers. The ability to roam, facilitated by the GSM/DCS mobile standard, should facilitate the emergence of pan-European networks. However healthy wholesale and retail competition agreements do not seem to be emerging, despite the fact that mobile operators can enter into roaming agreements with a number of different mobile operators in most countries. In November 1999, the international telecommunications users association (INTUG) completed a study comparing roaming retail tariffs with standard mobile charges which suggested that the difference in price could be as high as 500 percent. The Commission has itself received a number of complaints about high charges and possible collusion on roaming rates as well as refusal to deal at national and international level. The aim of the current enquiry is to establish whether current commercial practices and prices infringe EU competition rules, in particular the prohibition of restrictive practices and abuses of dominant position. If evidence is found indicating infringements of EU competition rules, formal proceedings against individual undertakings will be launched. This inquiry is the second of three Commission inquiries in the telecommunications sector. The first was launched in October 1999 and concerned the use of leased lines. The third area will examine the provision of access to and use of the residential local loop. The EFTA surveillance authority (ESA) is organising a parallel enquiry.