EU roaming cap to stay says EU Advocate General
British Mobile operators are facing defeat in their battle against EU plans to regulate international roaming rates, after the EU’s Advocate General ruled that the price caps were valid.
Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and O2 are challenging plans by the European Commission to regulate roaming charges on voice calls.
Luis Miguel Poiares Pessoa Maduro, the Advocate General and a key adviser to the European Court of Justice, ruled recently that the regulation is in the interests of the internal market in which ‘free movement of goods, services and capital is ensured’.
His decision is non-binding but in vast majority of cases rulings by Advocate Generals are heeded by the European Court of Justice. The final ruling will be delivered over the coming months.
Maduro said in a statement: ‘The differences in price between calls made within one’s own member state and those made while roaming could reasonably be regarded as discouraging the use of cross-border services such as roaming.’
The case was referred to the European Court of Justice in 2007 by the UK High Court.
Bharti takes a $2 bn call
MUMBAI: Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, the country’s largest cellular service provider, plans to invest up to $2 billion in its mobile and non-mobile businesses in the country during the current financial year.
In a bid to expand coverage in the rural areas and provide seamless and congestion-free service in the urban areas, it will add 20,000 cell sites during the year, thereby doubling the number of its cell sites.
Sanjay Kapoor, joint president-mobility, Bharti Airtel, told DNA Money, “For the year 2007, the capex for Bharti Airtel will be in the range of $1.8-2 billion across
India, out of which 70% will be on the Airtel mobile business and the remaining on the Airtel non-mobile business.”
Analysts feel that at 10% mobile teledensity, the telecom industry is bound to witness strong subscriber addition for the next few years.
Given its wide geographical coverage and aggressive marketing, Bharti Airtel could be well-placed to tap this growth.
For the first quarter, the Rs 11,290-crore company reported a 13% quarter-on-quarter growth to Rs 3,856 crore, largely driven by the mobility segment that witnessed a growth of 17.7% on account of strong subscriber addition, lower than anticipated fall in average revenue per user and a significant 2% increase in minutes of usage.
Airtel recently launched the InnoWest scheme for its subscribers in Mumbai,
Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, Chattisgarh and
Maharashtra and
Goa under which a subscriber visiting these circles would be charged tariffs as applicable in his home circle and no separate roaming rates would be charged.
Source- http://www.dnaindia.com
Technorati : Bharti Airtel, India, Mobile
Ice Rocket : Bharti Airtel, India, Mobile
