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EC to Order Lower Fees in Latvia
(08 Feb 2010, BWCS Staff)The European Commission has stepped in to demand that the Latvian telecoms regulator, the Sabiedrisko Pakalpojumu Regulesanas Komisija (SPRK for short), acts to lower fees charged to consumers in the country. The EC has reportedly asked the regulator to change the way it calculates fixed and mobile termination rates allowing them to be lowered, which in turn will make calls cheaper.
In May of last year, the EC backed an EU wide approach to calculating termination rates but, at the time, it said it would allow telecoms regulators to continue in their own way for a transitional period. However, it stressed that the termination rates should "reflect the costs that an efficient operator incurs to provide such services" at the same time it underlined that price control obligations should be imposed on all operators with significant market power, to avoid potential competition problems.
The EU's Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement, "Effective network access and cost-based termination rates for all Latvian fixed and mobile network operators is necessary to ensure a level playing field for all phone operators and lower prices, to the benefit of competition and Latvian consumers."
In turn the Latvian regulator informed the Commission that it had reviewed the mobile call termination markets and concluded that all four mobile network operators in Latvia (Tele2, Latvijas Mobilais Telefons, BITE Latvija and Telekom Baltija) had significant market power.
The Commission also asked SPRK to consider imposing an obligation on all operators to provide access to their networks for other operators. It suggests SPRK should regulate termination rates of all market players, including smaller ones.
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