The European Regulators Group (ERG), together with the Independent Regulators Group (IRG), has approved a questionnaire on international roaming, aiming at preparing a coordinated analysis of wholesale national markets for international roaming on public mobile networks, which correspond to market 17 of the Commission Recommendation 2003/311/EC, of 11 February 2003.
This coordination, which is supported by the European Commission, will enable the National Regulatory Authorities (NRA) of participating countries – besides Portugal, the NRA of France, Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom are involved – to establish a common approach, by sharing information on market definition and positions as to the definition of significant market power (SMP) and, if necessary, a common perspective on action to be adopted for the effective regulation of the relevant markets under consideration. Among other aspects, the analysis focus on the effects of prices, discounts and traffic control techniques practised in a give country on services purchased by a foreign operator of a mobile network and consumed by foreign end users.
The referred questionnaire has been already submitted by ANACOM to the three national operators of public mobile networks, which must send the respective responses to this Authority up to 21 January 2005.
The pursue of this project does not interfere with the action that Member States of the European Union (EU), on an individual basis, have already started or are currently developing regarding that market, nor with the conclusions that result from the respective analysis, in the scope of their responsibilities regarding relevant market analysis and regulation, under the new regulatory framework.
Viviane Reding, the Information Society and Media European Commissioner, hopes that this ERG initiative contributes towards identifying competition problems in the EU at this level, facilitating its resolution as soon as possible. The ERG project is complementary to the current anti-trust investigation action carried out by the Commission, the respective conclusions being debated between the Commission and the ERG in early spring 2005.
Further information:
- European Regulators Group intensifies work on international roaming http://erg.eu.int/doc/whatsnew/pr_10_12_2004_wir.pdf
- Commissioner Reding welcomes EU-wide investigation on cost of using a mobile phone abroad http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1458&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Related information on ANACOM's website:
- Electronic communications - market analysis https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=124219
- EU - European Union https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=66653
