EC clamps down on telecoms tariffs

In a letter to European telecoms regulators, the EC has told to them clamp down on overcharging. If they don't, the Commission says it will step in and take charge of the problem itself.

The governing body said it is particularly concerned about rates being charged by fixed-line operators to connect mobile services, but would not say which countries have been targeted.

The UK regulator, Oftel, said: "We have received the letter, but the EC is fully aware of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) report we are compiling, which already addresses these issues."

The UK report - due to be completed by December - primarily investigates the profits taken by BT as part of its interconnection rates. But an Oftel spokesman said: "Vodafone and Cellnet are also part of the investigation, which will have a knock on effect on Orange and One2One.

"The aim of the MMC report is to reduce call rates for the customer."

Parantha Narendran, consultant at Ovum, said: "The findings of the MMC report will affect the rest of Europe. It's calculating the cost of running a network, and most mobile networks in Europe are pretty similar, so this report will demonstrate fixed line to mobile overcharging in general."

Narendran is confident that the directive will have targeted the most European countries.