COMMISSION BLASTS FRANCE TELECOM.

France Telecom President Didier Lombard was fiercely criticised by European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding's spokesperson on 15 December, following his own criticism earlier the same day in the Financial Times daily of the proposal for an EU regulation on charges for calls placed or received abroad via mobile telephones (roaming). France Telecom is looking for "a scapegoat to explain its disappointing performance" and the sharp fall in its share prices since the beginning of the year, according to the commissioner's spokesperson. Though opposed to a regulation of wholesale prices, the industry is above all angry at the regulating of retail prices charged to consumers. In his interview, the president of France's incumbent telecommunications...