Vodafone Against Sms Eu Regulation

[Effendi]

Vodafone: EU Telecom Regulation Of SMS Unwarranted

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Vodafone Group, Thursday said European Commission proposals to regulate text messages, also known as short message services or SMS, were unnecessary since the market already functioned competitively.

"Fees for text messaging have fallen 10% so far this year from 2005," a Vodafone spokesman said.

The E.U.'s telecommunications commissioner, Viviane Reding, unveiled proposals Thursday that force providers to share their broadband infrastructure with rivals and extends regulation to text messaging for the first time.

Vodafone said it was broadly supportive of the new proposals but would like to see an even application of deregulation.
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Text messaging is one of the most lucrative business lines for telecom providers - Cheuvreux estimates the retail market is worth roughly EUR1.2 billion - but regulators say it is uncompetitive.

France's telecom regulator, Arcep, proposed earlier this month to cut SMS rates by 30%.


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