Communications Regulatory Authority

Nevertheless, an open model of cell phone Internet navigation is emerging with
ever-increasing strength, garnering success with end users, and appearing increasingly
compliant with the standards and rules safeguarding competition. By way of example, it
is possible to mention the initiative of the German operator T-Mobile called “web ’n
walk”: thanks to a special mobile phone, or by downloading a free application
programme provided by the operator, the user received Internet access that enables him
to visualize the page contents in a way very similar to that of a browser on a personal
computer screen. The first page of the service is the homepage of Google, the operator
with which T-Mobile has formed an alliance. The decision to provide its users with a
service that, in part, offers experiences, right from the first page, which are already
familiar to the user accustomed to navigating with his PC, seems to indicate the
operator’s desire to overcome the walled garden approach. Even Vodafine has indicated
its intention to make access to content outside of its own portal easier.
The adoption of an open approach seems to have been influenced by
considerations connected with both the greater availability of content accessible by the
mobile device user, and the presence of networks (UMTS and, eventually, HSDPA) that
allow a better enjoyment of online audiovisual content.
With regard to the business segment, innovation has been concentrated on the
supply of value-added services on mobile networks, including mobile access to business
applications. A value-added service on which mobile operators seem to want to focus
their attention is mobile mail access. The “Blackberry” solution, which first dominated
the market of push-mail solutions (which permit the user to automatically receive
messages on his mobile terminal without having to request the service time by time),
has been joined by other solutions in the portfolio of offerings from mobile operators.
In this situation of competition over prices of traditional services and the
offering of new products and services, the competition structure of the European mobile
market has been changed by the carrying out of numerous amalgamation operations.
Among these, worthy of mention are:
• the acquisition of the mobile operator O2 – active in the United Kingdom,
Ireland, and Germany – by the Spanish carrier Telefónica; the operation
received the go-ahead from the European Commission, which nevertheless
ordered Telefónica to leave the Freemove alliance;
• the purchase of the Austrian mobile operator Tele.ring by the German
operator T-Mobile;
• the operation with which Norwegian carrier Telenor bought out Vodafone
Sweden;
• the acquisition of 80% of Amena, a Spanish mobile operator, by the French
incumbent operator France Télécom, which was already present in Spain
with a fixed voice and broadband offering;
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