French competition watchdog Conseil de la Concurrence is urging the country's telecom regulator Arcep to push for regulation that will help cut the cost of sending text messages and other data transmissions via mobile phones, a Dow Jones report said.
The report, quoting a statement from the group, said Conseil de la Concurrence also recommended that Arcep implement regulation that would reduce the control network operators had over SMS termination rates, or the pricing of SMS sent to their networks. The report said consumers sent text messages more than any other data transmission over their cellphones.
The competition regulator viewed the country's three mobile phone operators as having a "significant" influence over the wholesale pricing of text messages that arrived on their networks, the report said.
The report further said this situation had resulted in an "absence of competitive pressure" on the level of SMS costs and had sustained prices at the same levels for almost six years.