Reuters reports that French regulator Arcep has proposed new cuts to mobile termination rates of around 30 percent. Beginning July 1 2009, the regulator wants to cut the rates charged by France Telecom’s Orange and Vivendi’s SFR to €0.045 from €0.065, whilst rates at Bouygues SA’s Bouygues Telecom would be cut from €0.085 to €0.06. From July 1 2010, Arcep reportedly wants Orange and SFR’s termination rates to fall again, to €0.03, and those of Bouygues Telecom to drop to €0.04. A public comment period on the proposed changes runs until November 24.

According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, France Telecom believes such moves would cuts tens of millions of euros from its annual revenue. France Telecom is “surprised by the excessively low level” of the proposed new rates, which “would take France completely out of the European average even though the French network is one of the most extended in Europe,” a spokesman for the operator is quoted as stating. The Dow Jones report also adds that SFR claims the proposed cuts “would represent an unjustified exception in Europe,” as “French rates are already 24 percent below the European average.” In June EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding unveiled a set of recommendations that could see mobile termination fees – the fees charged by mobile operators to handle each others calls – cut by as much as 70 percent. Full details on that story here.