The Commission has opened an in-depth investigation under the powers of Article 7 of the Electronic Communications Framework Directive against the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (“FICORA”) concerning FICORA’s plans to deregulate the wholesale markets for fixed voice call termination rates. According to FICORA, there is no longer need for regulation because telecoms operators cannot set wholesale prices without taking other players and end users into consideration. Further, FICORA has stated that no regulation is needed as none of the telecommunications operators, in its view, has significant market power (“SMP”) in the market for call termination on individual public telephone networks provided at a fixed location in Finland. The Commission has requested FICORA to present further evidence on its conclusion that such operators would not have SMP despite each operator holding a 100% market share on their respective network. The proposed Finnish measures must now be suspended for two months while the Commission discusses the case in close cooperation with the body of European regulators (“BEREC”) and FICORA. At the end of the investigation period the Commission may either lift its reservations or demand that FICORA withdraws the proposed measure. Sources: Commission Press Release 3/10/2013 and Commission Decision C(2013) 6598, 02/10/2013