Vodafone chief hits at regulators Vittorio Colao, Vodafone chief executive, warned that the infrastructure investments being made in the telecoms industry could be at risk in Europe if regulators continued to undermine traditional sources of revenue such as roaming charges. Mr Colao used his keynote address to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to criticise European regulators for what he described as an outdated approach to telecoms groups, which are investing heavily in their networks at a time when revenues are under pressure from the economic downturn and fierce competition. He said that regulators needed to stop the "auto-pilot system developed 15 years ago," pointing to the enforced cuts in the wholesale charges that the industry makes in connecting calls between different networks, and the threat to cut roaming revenues from using phones abroad. "We should stop having this continuous intervention on prices and let the industry reinvest the money," he said, echoing a similar call earlier in the day from Franco Bernabè, chairman of Telecom Italia, to help telecoms groups roll out next generation mobile broadband networks. However, his views clashed with a speech made at the same conference by Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission who is responsible for the region's digital policy. She said that the cuts in termination rates were working for consumers, and backed reductions in roaming charges across Europe. She said that Europe "will inject competition into the roaming market," pointing to figures of 40 per cent of mobile customers nervous about using data services abroad. She said: "Today, the industry has the confidence to invest and the incentives to innovate. Across Europe, we have already seen huge sums pouring into next-generation mobile technology. Mr Colao said Vodafone would not cut investment overall, but the decision would be where to invest, and the company would "definitely" invest more should regulation be relaxed. "I raised the point today strongly for the first time," he said after the speech. I have never cut investment but I might put it in different geographic areas. Mr Colao said it was not just a problem for the European countries with the worst economic conditions. He said even the UK ran the risk of "falling behind in investment" as he always needed to ask the question of whether the market was "profitable to reinvest."