EU regulator drops probe against five European telecos over mobile standards

The European regulator yesterday said that it was dropping a preliminary investigation against five big European telecoms operators over possible collusion on setting industry standards for developing future mobile data services.

In late 2010, the CEOs of the 5 big EU telecom service providershad met to discuss operating systems and how to handle increasing data traffic on wireless networks with the introduction of new devices like Apple's iPhone and Google's Android-based smartphones.

The European Commission (EC) had last year asked Deutsche Telecom, France Télécom, Telefónica, Vodafone and Telecom Italia as well as the mobile sector association GSMA, to provide details of the talks held by them on technology standards.

The Brussels-based regulator was concerned over whether the talks among the big 5 over setting technology standards would harm the interests of smaller operators.

''The Commission's policy is to ensure that standardisation processes led by major telecom operators are not being used strategically to foreclose other companies,'' said the EC, which represents 27 European countries.

Giving reasons for closing the investigation, the EC said that the big 5 had given the GSMA and other industry associations the authority to set standards for future mobile communications services.