Vodafone chief fears monopolies revival

Vodafone has warned that national telecoms groups are looking to re-establish their traditional monopolies across Europe, just two decades after regulators opened markets across the region to competition.

Vittorio Colao, chief executive, will go to Brussels this week for a meeting with Europe’s top digital commissioner. He will warn that large telecoms groups could restrict fair access to the crucial next generation of high-speed fiber networks being rolled out across Europe. In a move likely to split the telecoms industry, he will tell Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission, that Vodafone would take legal action against any so-called “remonopolization” of the sector.