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Technology Stocks : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (13669)	7/13/2001 8:21:25 AM
From: ronho	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

Are the countries in Europe really countries any more or have they ceeded their nationality to some huge unelected bureaucacy. How is it that some bureaucrat can invade the Brits and stage a police raid on their companies? EU Raids Telecoms in Probe of Prices Suzanne Kapner New York Times Service Thursday, July 12, 2001 Mobile-Phone Roaming Rates Draw Investigators' Attention LONDON European regulators flexed their muscles anew on Wednesday when officials raided the offices of Vodafone and eight other mobile-phone operators to search for evidence that these companies had set artificially high prices for some services. The coordinated, surprise inspections cap a 17-month inquiry into roaming fees - money that mobile operators collect for transferring customers' calls to other networks - and are the latest example of the growing prowess of European regulators, led by the European Union competition commissioner, Mario Monti. In the last year alone, Mr. Monti has presided over investigations into allegations that banks were fixing commissions on euro exchanges and that music companies colluded in setting prices for compact disks. In what is perhaps his most audacious move, Mr. Monti last week thwarted General Electric's attempt to merge with Honeywell, marking the first time that a European regulator blocked a combination between two U.S. companies. U.S. regulators had approved the deal. "Mr. Monti has shown that he is determined to apply the rules, despite the political sensitivity of a situation, or the amount of lobbying against him," said Guy Lougher, an antitrust lawyer with Wragge Co., in Birmingham , England. The so-called dawn raids carried out Wednesday are one of the most powerful investigative tools of European regulators and are far more draconian than measures available in the United States, where officials must first submit to lengthy court hearings before companies are required to turn over confidential information, antitrust lawyers said. For European mobile companies, the timing of Mr. Monti's attentions could not be worse. Many are struggling to pay down debt after spending a collective $100 billion on government-sponsored auctions for new radio spectrum. The companies also are faced with another huge bill to develop the networks and services that will run on the new frequency. EU officials, in a statement, said they had carried out "simultaneous unannounced inspections at the premises of nine European mobile telephony operators located in the U.K. and Germany." They did not name the firms. A Vodafone spokesman confirmed that antitrust officials had visited its premises and said the company was cooperating with their investigation. Similar comments were echoed by Orange, the mobile-phone company owned by France Telecom, and by Deutsche Telekom, British Telecommunications and others. The European Commission, the executive arm of the 15-member EU, first began examining allegations of price-fixing among mobile-phone companies in January 2000, at the behest of several consumer groups. By December, it had concluded that "excessive pricing and price collusion are likely." On Wednesday, the commission said it was examining not only roaming fees, but also wholesale prices that German operators charge competitors for use of their network. The commission also said it was looking into a plan pioneered by Vodafone to offer consumers flat-rate roaming prices across Europe. "There is the sense that roaming charges are high, they are not transparent, and there are a limited number of players, which could lead to some anti-competitive behavior," said Michael Tscherny, a commission spokesman. If the commission finds evidence of a cartel, it could levy a fine of up to 10 percent of the companies' global sales, Mr. Tscherny said. He said that a final decision was still some way off and that the commission rarely implements such severe financial penalties. Antitrust lawyers said some sort of settlement would be the most likely outcome. "Roaming is an important profit element for carriers," said Andrew Cole, the head of Adventis, a global wireless consulting practice. "Relative to the incremental cost needed to provide the service, you could argue that profit margins are significant." Nevertheless, Mr. Cole said he found it hard to believe that operators were colluding. "If there is any conspiracy," he said, "it is the way European governments raped the carriers of money for new spectrum."