Spanish accuse mobile firms

Vodafone and two of its European mobile phone rivals have been told by Spanish regulators that they illegally agreed to raise charges at the same time last year.

The British company, along with France's Orange and O2 owner Telefonica, have been sent the judgments by Spain's competition authority and given 15 days to respond.

The regulator will then decide whether and what level of fine it will impose on the three companies.

The competition authority launched its probe last October following complaints from a Spanish consumer rights group.

It investigated a price rise that all three firms brought into effect on 1 March 2007.

That was also the date on which new laws were introduced forcing mobile networks to start charging their customers by the second and prevented them from rounding up their bills.

The competition authority concluded that the three put up their price to make up for the revenues they would lose under those new laws.