BRUSSELS, Belgium-Amidst complaints from European Union member states about high interconnection tariffs applied between fixed and mobile phone operators, the European Commission announced it has opened an inquiry into the cost of phone calls in Europe.
“We see a range of hugely different tariffs involving mobile phone use, and we are just a bit suspicious about that,” said commission spokesman Willy Helin.
The EC said mobile network operators currently have joint control among themselves over the termination of calls on their networks.
“It appears that in some countries, the price of calling a mobile phone from a fixed network is often substantially more expensive than calling from one mobile phone to another mobile phone,” said EC.
“Where information is available, interconnection rates between fixed and mobile networks can be up to 14 times higher than rates applied between fixed networks. As to charges paid by users, they are in certain cases up to six times higher from fixed toward mobile networks compared to fixed to fixed or mobile to mobile networks.”
The commission said it has sent letters to fixed and mobile telecommunications operators in all EU member states to collect information about the charges levied for different types of interconnection between fixed and mobile networks and the prices end-users pay for the corresponding type of call. Replies are due to the commission around the end of February.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
