German telco watchdog bitten by hound with bigger teeth

Germany’s telecoms regulator is in the firing line after it ignored requests from the European Commission to lower fixed termination rates.

Fixed termination rates are the fees telcos charge each other to deliver calls between networks. Since each operator has access to customers on its own network, there is an incentive to artificially inflate such fees to other networks.

These costs are ultimately included in call prices to the detriment of consumers and business, according to the Commission.

In August 2013, former EC digital commissioner Steelie Neelie Kroes criticised the German regulator, BNetzA, after it proposed FTR calculations three times higher than the EU average. She gave them a final warning last month.

BNetzA has since proposed revised fixed termination rates for Telekom Deutschland that are due to come into force on 1 December for a period of two years. However, the commission says these are still too high and on Friday announced that it has launched an investigation.

The Brussels watchdog now has three months to discuss the case with BNetzA. At the end of the investigation period, the commission can either lift its reservations or demand that BNetzA makes changes – and further failure of BNetzA to do so could see the Germans hauled before the European Court of Justice. ®