Press Release: Telecoms: Commission concerned over German regulator’s failure to notify mobile termination rates

The European Commission requested the German telecoms regulator, Bundesnetzagentur ('BNetzA'), to notify it of all German mobile operators' termination rates, the wholesale tariffs charged by the operator of a customer receiving a phone call to the operator of the caller's network. Mobile termination rates are relatively high in Germany compared to several other Member States. The Commission underlines that these rates need to be notified to it under the EU telecoms rules ('Article 7 procedure'). This procedure, provided for by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers since 2002, aims to ensure more coherent and transparent termination rates across Europe, thereby avoiding distortions of competition between operators from different Member States. BNetzA has failed twice, in 2006 and now again, to include these rates in its analysis of the market for wholesale mobile call termination. In its letter, the Commission therefore alerted BNetzA that in case it continues to fail to comply with this obligation, the Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, will consider opening an infringement proceeding for non-compliance with EU legislation.