Press Release: Telecoms: Commission welcomes Romanian regulator’s commitment to reduce mobile termination rates

The European Commission welcomed the Romanian telecoms regulator's move to bring its regulation of mobile termination rates – wholesale charges operators pay each other for connecting calls on their networks – in line with the forthcoming Commission Recommendation. In the meantime, the Commission also called on the regulator to align the mobile termination rates charged by the third and fourth mobile operators in Romania with those allowed for the two largest operators. The Commission's letter acknowledged the reasonably low level of rates for the two largest operators (5.03 eurocents per minute) and said that in the absence of objective cost differences, this interim rate should also be applied to the other operators as soon as possible. As part of the cost of a call between customers of different operators, termination rates are included in everyone's phone bill and therefore eventually paid by the calling consumer.