Brussels, 13/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent to Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding on 12 February, the Mobile Challengers Group called on the European Commission to create conditions favourable to the development of competition, which the Group believes to be insufficient, in the mobile telephony sector. Recent years have seen significant concentration of players, early entrants for the most part, giving rise to a “risk of an oligopoly”, which would mean there was no pressure on prices and development of new services would be slowed, says the Group. It notes the following: between 2000 and 2005, there were 30 mergers and acquisitions, most of which involved one of the four leading pan-European operators (Orange, Vodaphone, T-Mobile and Telefonica); at the same time, there was a decline in the number of independent local operators from 20 to 13; and some national markets went from five to four, and sometimes three, operators. “Experience clearly shows that competition, and the innovation and consumer benefits it brings, come from the small independent operators,” it says. It argues that the market should be more fluid and that there should be a mixture of national competitors and pan-European groups. Termination rate policy, on-net off-net discriminations, roaming alliances, mobile number portability, frequencies and network sharing are all issues that merit greater consideration in the new telecoms regulation, the Group says. The Challengers Mobile Group has just celebrated its first year in existence. It currently represents seven operators active in 11 countries: Bouygues Telecom, Base, E-Plus, Wind, 3, Avea and Play. (I.L.)