The European Commission (EC) is preventing Latvia’s telecoms regulator from implementing a plan preventing call termination on the country’s mobile networks.
Local regulator SPRK plans to overlook EC regulations covering call termination by the country’s 13 mobile operators, effectively excusing carriers from their obligation to handle calls from rival operators, the Commission states. It claims the situation may leave consumers unable to make calls to other networks – a scenario it believes operators may use to eliminate competitors.
"The prospect of some consumers not being able to make the calls they wish is just not acceptable. For this reason, where we have a monopoly situation like in mobile termination markets, we need to guarantee access to the network for all operators and all consumers,” EC digital agenda vice president Neelie Kroes says.
A three month review by the EC and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) is now underway, in a bid to persuade the SPRK to amend its plans to bring them inline with European law.