Equant goes for wireless but Europe declares war on mobile operators - Industry Trend or Event

CommunicationsWeek International, July 16, 2001

Anti-trust officials from the European Commission last week raided offices of nine mobile operators in the United Kingdom and Germany, searching for evidence of illegal, price fixing for international roaming and wholesale interconnection fees. The raids, launched as CWI wont to press, follow an 18-month sector inquiry by the competition directorate into' mobile roaming, which competition commissioner Mario Monti said has found "serious competition concerns."

The raids highlight complaints by competitive operators, who this month. accuse the Commission and national regulators of being ineffective in enforcing cost based legislation. Competitive operators are still frustrated by the lack of regulatory action on mobile and other interconnection issues.

At a roundtable hosted by law firm Steptoe & Johnson, Rakisons in conjunction with Communications Week International, operator representatives claimed European telecoms deregulation Is failing to deliver on its promise of competition and low prices. They say they are still stuck with the basic problems they faced in 1998.

"If...we wait until new legislation is in place to address the problems of today, we won't have a problem in 2004, because we will be re-monopolized again," said Ann LaFrance, senior vice president and chief International counsel at WorldCom's European affairs office in Brussels.

For the full story, see pages 13-18, CWI's Special Report: Have Regulators Lost Their Way?