Future mobile broadband services jeopardised by regulation

Europe's mobile industry is cutting back spending on new networks and services as a growing regulatory burden from the European Union puts profitability under pressure. To justify the imposition of retail price caps, the European Commission has claimed that mobile operators are making excessive profits, but the European mobile industry's return on capital employed was just 9 per cent in 2006 compared with more than 20 per cent in software, pharmaceuticals and several other sectors, according to management consultancy A.T. Kearney. article