EU plan on roaming charges could lead to telco consolidation - analysts • 7:04 AM

• The EU's plan to scrap roaming charges for incoming calls from July 2014 and put a limit on other tariffs, which it announced yesterday, could leave the telecom sector open to more consolidation if the rules come into force, analysts reckon.


• "Margins are going to be wafer-thin," says CMC Markets' Michael Hewson. "There are already too many companies operating in Europe...and with these new rules, the capacity for European companies to make a profit will be greatly reduced.


• However, Hewson points out that the regulations will only apply to calls and not data, which tends to be more expensive .


• Companies that will be hit by the rules include Telefonica ( TEF ), Vodafone ( VOD ) and Orange ( ORAN ), and it makes you wonder whether AT&T ( T ) will still want to make acquisitions in the EU.

............from Seeking Alpha