Competition and regulation

The price of mobile services and the complexity of tariffs remain a cause of concern in some places. The European Commission is continuing to investigate mobile operators' international roaming charges.

We co-operate with regulators openly and do our best to deal with any issues they raise. To ensure that customers can compare our tariffs with those of other operators we publish our prices and tariffs both online and in our shops. Simpler pricing and clear and cheaper roaming tariffs are also the aim of those operators who have joined us in the Starmap® Alliance of European operators.

The regulator in Ireland found O2 Ireland to jointly dominate the market with another operator. Since the finding was made, a third operator has increased its market share to around nine per cent and we believe that another operator is due to launch. Hence, we believe that the competitive dynamics of the Irish market will continue to change significantly.

Research commissioned by O2 suggests that our industry will continue to create wealth and employment in its markets. The mobile phone sector's contribution to UK GDP and government finances are set to more than double over the next 10 years. The research predicts that the sector will be an important source of further employment, with around 56,000 new jobs being created in the market by 2013.