News
Vodafone rails against EC
Stuart O'Brien Sep 1 2008, 1:32pm
Operator takes gloves off in battle over mobile roaming and termination charges.
Vodafone says up to 40 million Europeans will stop using their mobile phones if the European Commission gets its way and forces a cut in 'excessive' call termination and data roaming rates.
Speaking through the Financial Times, Vodafone said users would desert their contracts in droves if they had to pay to receive calls along the lines of the US method the EC favours.
The statement reads: "Our research leads us to conclude that around 40m European mobile users would be forced to cancel their mobile service if Europe moved to a US wholesale model, even if EU mobile operators took every possible step to minimise the loss of users and even if the users themselves sought to minimise the impact."
EC telcoms commissioner Viviane Reding wants the average EU call termination rate to fall to 1-2 euros from its current 8 euros by 2012.
