Many travellers turn off data "roaming" to avoid being stung.The commissioner wants to make it easier for telecoms operators to enter new markets.
That will become easier if the telecom regulator's proposals to permit the trading of spectrum are adopted.
A riot of imitators followed, aided by the easy user interface at telecom websites such as Maho i-Land ("Magic Island", which reportedly carries in excess of a million titles.
But in return for Enel's move into the Spanish energy sector, Spain's Abertis may suddenly find that it is able to merge with Italy's Autostrade; or Telefónica, the Spanish telecoms giant, might miraculously find it easier to buy into Telecom Italia two deals the Italian government has hitherto been blocking.
Politicians in Britain and Europe are helping families on squeezed incomes by making it easier to exit telecoms contracts, capping bills incurred on lost and stolen phones, stopping mobile companies charging for calls to freephone 0800 numbers and abolishing extra charges for using a phone abroad.
Cloud communications democratizes telecom, making it easy for anyone with access to programming chops to create applications that historically required tons of expensive telecom hardware, big contracts with telecom carriers and a slew of esoteric telecom skills.
So has France Telecom, despite the easier ride it has enjoyed in its home market thanks to a lenient regulator.
A few decades ago, before the telecoms revolution made it easy to shuffle money around the globe, companies used OFCs primarily because they had less onerous financial rules.
Ryan Heath, a spokesman for Ms. Kroes, said that the commissioner agreed that Web-based rivals to European telecom operators sometimes received easier regulatory treatment, and that the issue was rising on the commission's regulatory agenda.
If they are not, incumbent telecoms operators may find it easy (and cheap) to scare off potential entrants.
Third-generation telecom infrastructure will provide faster, easier cell phone connections and data transmission.
