Brussels monitoring Maltese mobile prices

The European Commission is “closely monitoring” developments in Malta’s mobile telephony market and has indicated it is expecting the cost of mobile calls to fall since the entrance of Melita as the third operator.

EU Commissioner for Telecoms Nellie Kroes replied to a parliamentary question by Labour MEP Louis Grech that the Commission was following “very closely” the developments in the Maltese market.

The question was following up on the Commission’s report last May which revealed that in 2008 (the latest available data) Maltese consumers were paying the highest prices in the EU for using their mobile phones. The report said while the average cost of a mobile call in the EU stood at 13c a minute, in Malta it was almost double at 24c a minute.

She pointed out that, while the 2008 prices for mobile calls in Malta were high compared to other EU countries, in 2009 “there were already signs of strengthened price competition following the entry into the market of a subsidiary of the cable operator”.

In a clear dig at the Malta Communications Authority, the national regulator in the area, Ms Kroes reiterated that Malta, through the authority, already had the tools to intervene in the market, if it wished to.

“The Commission’s Termination Rates Recommendation sets out principles which should be taken into account by national regulatory authorities when adopting measures related to mobile termination rates (MTRs). The EU regulatory framework is expected to have a positive impact on the development of competition which should translate into decreased end-user prices,” she said.

According to May’s report, one of the reasons why Maltese mobile call prices were the highest in the EU in 2008 was the level of MTRs – the wholesale charges operators make to connect calls to each others’ network – set by the MCA. These charges are much higher than the EU average and are finally paid by the consumers.

Although the Commission had advised the MCA to lower these rates, the MCA had decided differently.