More European operators slash roaming rates

In another move to stave off European Commission regulation of roaming rates, some of Europe's largest operators agreed to slash their wholesale roaming rates by 50 percent. Deutsche Telekom, France's Orange, Telecom Italia, Italy's Wind and Norway's Telenor have agreed to cap the average wholesale rates they charge each other for providing roaming services at €0.45 a minute from October 2006, falling to €0.36 by October 2007. All these moves, however, don't seem to be keeping the commission from going ahead with regulation. It believes regulations are necessary to ensure that all consumers benefit from lower roaming rates.

To read more about the European roaming rate controversy:
- take a look at this report from the Financial Times