MADRID, Spain—European Union Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said on Tuesday he will take action to bring down prices for mobile-phone calls across Europe. The commissioner said his agency is looking into anti-competitive practices by European mobile operators for international roaming charges, and will have results this year.
Commission officials raided the headquarters of wireless carriers in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands last year. Operators have been accused of charging excessive prices for calls made outside a consumer’s home market.
Monti said the EU is also looking into mobile call termination rates—the prices fixed-line operators pay to mobile-phone operators for completing calls—and practices by incumbent telecom operators to bar newcomers from entering local telecom markets.
