The European Commission has been busy supplying grist to the mill for its planned future free of intra-EU roaming charges by producing a study that shows how much said roaming charges are cramping Europeans' style when using their mobiles abroad. The study found that 47% of those asked would never use mobile Internet while abroad within the EU; only one out of 10 would use emails with the same carefree abandon that they did at home; more than a quarter would simply switch off their mobiles; and millions of them would divert to using text messages rather than pay for calls. (See Continental Shift and Euro Haiku.)

While we're on the subject, Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) is claiming that it will soon offer 4G roaming in more countries than any other operator, this year adding a host of new territories, from Australia to Switzerland, to its 4G roaming roster. Click here for all the countries in between.

Vodafone has also been keeping its lawyers busy, filing a complaint against Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) in which it alleges that Telefónica is abusing its dominant position in Spain, reports Reuters. Specifically, Vodafone believes that Telefónica's deal with Jazztel has made it virtually impossible for Vodafone to access fiber networks and thereby compete on an equal footing in the high-speed broadband market.

French TV networks are getting very nervous about the impact of US OTT video competitors on their patch, reports the Daily Telegraph. The heads of TF1, Canal+, and M6 want a meeting with their Culture Minister about Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and they want it maintenant!.

The battle between Sky and BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) over the wholesale price of premium sports content has taken another turn, reports Reuters, with the UK's Court of Appeal ruling that a lower court should look again at how much BSkyB charges rivals for its top-of-the-range soccer action. In recent times, BT has been spending a fortune to compete with established market leader BSkyB in pay-TV sports, launching two dedicated sports channels as part of its BT Vision package. (See BT's Got Balls.)

Don't look down! BT CEO Gavin Patterson is to lead the way on a charity abseil down the 138-meter-high BT Tower on March 10. Among those following him down the iconic landmark will be posh survivalist Bear Grylls, former swimming champ Mark Foster, and England rugby world cup winner Ben Kay. Money raised will go to Sport Relief and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. Figure 1: It's not that tall, you big soft jessies. Jump!

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading