BRUSSELS, Belgium-The European Commission made surprise raids on nine mobile operators in the United Kingdom and Germany last week to investigate alleged price fixing, according to international press reports. The commission was reportedly looking for evidence of collective fixing of consumer retail prices and serious competition concerns.
Officials from the EC and Office of Fair Trading arrived at the headquarters of One 2 One, Orange, BT Cellnet and Vodafone in the United Kingdom and sifted through documents for the investigation.
European operators have been criticized for the high and inconsistent roaming charges they assess for subscribers roaming to other European and international countries. Mario Monti, the European Union’s competition commissioner, told the European parliament in April that there was an absence of competition with high and rigid prices.
German carriers are also accused of illegally fixing wholesale prices of calls.
If the commission does find signs of collusion, it can impose hefty fines. If operators voluntarily decrease roaming rates, their revenues will likely be negatively affected.
