Telecoms dawn raids - a warning for all

United Kingdom
11/07/2001
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On Wednesday 11 July 2001 the European Commission with the help of domestic competition authorities raided mobile phone operators across Europe. The suspicion is of collusion in prices charged to customers who use their mobile phones abroad.

Charges for so-called roaming calls "are not transparent and do not seem related to the costs", said an EC spokesman.

Five UK companies and four German operators were targeted in Wednesday's aids.

The raids show the importance the European Commission and with its increasing confidence in its Competition Act powers the Office of Fair Trading also - place on busting cartels.

Companies in businesses where the individual consumer is sophisticated - and in the mobile phone business we all think we know a bad deal when we see one – need to be just as wary of complaint as those in complex industries where complaint is more likely to come from other companies.

Business should be prepared for the unexpected. In this case the European Commission has been investigating the mobile phone industry for two years so the companies should have seen this coming. But every company needs to have a dawn raid response pack in its competition survival plan. The doorman and secretary are just as important as the lawyer when the dawn raiders come in.

Visit the competition hotspot on our website to download an outline dawn raid response pack. Be prepared!

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