Brussels, 17/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 14 September, the Commission welcomed the proposal made by the French regulation authority, ARCEP (Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes), to further reduce wholesale rates charged by French mobile operators. In its letter to ARCEP, the Commission also supports the wish expressed by the French authority in favour of a joint European approach aimed at calculating cost-oriented mobile termination rates as soon as possible.
On 24 July 2007, ARCEP notified the Commission of its measures relating to call termination on individual mobile networks in mainland France and the French overseas territories. Mobile termination rates are the wholesale rates charged for connecting calls between mobile networks. They are currently regulated in all EU countries by the national telecom regulator. On average they amount to 11.4 eurocents per minute in the EU25, starting from 2.25 eurocents per minute in Cyprus and rising to 16.49 eurocents in Poland. In France, mobile termination rates are already below those in other large EU member states. ARCEP's draft measure further lowers the current rate and is therefore welcomed as it is a clear move towards a level reflecting real costs. Cost orientation is a core principle of the EU telecom rules. For operators in mainland France, ARCEP proposes to impose a price cap of €0.065 for Orange and SFR, and of €0.085 for Bouygues between 1 January 2008 and 30 June 2009. Further reductions are also proposed in the overseas territories, where the termination rates are still higher compared to mainland rates. Nevertheless, ARCEP acknowledges in its notification that the maximum rates set by the current measure for mobile operators in mainland France are still above the cost of efficient service provision. To reach the required cost-oriented level, ARCEP underlines the need to harmonise mobile termination rates and the underlying cost accounting principles at European level. (il)