Operator Seeks to Block British Telecom Collaboration

The mobile phone provider Three UK asked the European Commission to block a joint venture of Britain’s three largest operators to sell a common mobile payment and advertising platform for retailers, arguing that the companies’ influence in the market would result in high fees for consumers.

Stephen Lerner, the regulatory affairs director of Three UK, said he had traveled to Brussels to deliver a letter of concern to European competition authorities, asking them to thwart the venture, a combined effort by Telefónica of Spain, which runs the O2 service in Britain, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere, the No. 1 operator owned by Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom. “Instead of competing for the benefit of consumers, the three operators that hold 90 percent of the U.K. market have engaged in a cozy collaboration and closed ranks against competition,” Lerner said. By combining resources and shutting out Three, an aggressive, low-cost seller of phone and Internet services, Lerner said the operators would impose high transaction fees on British consumers. He also said the venture could set a difficult precedent in Europe, where countries are beginning to grapple with the issues raised by national wireless payment networks.