TELECOMMUNICATIONS : INTER-OPERATOR TARIFFS: POLAND AND DENMARK ASKED TO DROP PRICES.

The latest recriminations in the telecoms sector have been addressed to Poland and Denmark, calling on them to drop mobile termination prices as soon as possible. The Commission announced, on 23 December 2009, that two letters have been sent to the national regulators in both countries.

Mobile termination tariffs are the prices charged by operators (mobile and fixed) for transferring calls from one network to another. The Polish national operator wants to authorise a new operator - CenterNet - to charge higher prices than other mobile operators. CenterNet would then reduce their prices, starting in 2011, to be level with other operators by 2015, which the Commission maintains is too late.

In 2008, the EU executive had recommended a method of calculating tariffs which would result in a 70% decrease by 2011. The European average of nine cents a minute should then drop to one or two cents (which according to the Commission would be close to the actual costs).

The Commission has also invited the...