LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012: Mobile network investment, along with job creation and service innovation, are under threat if regulators do not ditch ‘legacy’ thinking. So says Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s chief executive, speaking at today’s opening keynote session at Congress. “We need vast quantities of spectrum, which creates efficiencies and lower prices,” argued Colao. “The [current] thinking of allocating spectrum a bit at a time should change. Investment is under threat.”

Colao’s call for more wireless frequencies was echoed by Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of Mobility at AT&T. “More spectrum needs to be made available, which leads to new networks, innovation and job creation.”

The Vodafone chief repeated his accusation made at last year’s Congress that European regulators were running on ‘auto-pilot’, routinely cutting mobile termination rates (MTRs) without thinking through the consequences. “The European [mobile] industry is not growing,” points out Colao. “People think that every time there is an MTR reduction it puts more money in the pocket of customers, but this is not totally true. The European Commission calculates that for every ten cents in cuts, only two cents end up in customers’ pockets.”  

Colao added, however, that Vodafone has made offers to co-invest in open, fibre-optic infrastructure. Without giving details about which companies those offers were made, Coloa said the firm’s overtures have so far been rebuffed. Earlier this year, the Vodafone Group was reported as assessing the possibility of buying the extensive UK and global fibre-optic assets of Cable & Wireless Worldwide.

The Vodafone CEO also took time in his Congress presentation to highlight a number of mobile-led initiatives that can help emerging markets. These included mAgriculture, which involves using mobile devices for weather forecasts, financial services and giving advice. Colao said that mAgriculture could increase farming incomes by as much as US$140 billion by 2020. The Vodafone ‘SMS for Life’ service is also helping to save lives by improving the availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas in Tanzania. “Our industry really can change the state of the world,” says Colao.