EUROPE'S competition watchdog is investigating some of the region's biggest telecoms firms over whether they abused their market position in deals with Internet companies to deliver content to consumers.

Offices of Deutsche Telekom, France's Orange SA and Spain's Telefonica were searched by antitrust regulators after a complaint by a United States-based competitor, two people familiar with the matter said yesterday.

The amount that telecom operators charge for delivering content has become a sore point with some Internet companies. In the past, delivery was free.

But with data traffic from streaming video and other downloads booming, operators argue that the Internet companies should pay more.

US-based Cogent Communications - a middleman, or transit provider, that carries global traffic on behalf of Internet companies that want to reach consumers - has filed similar complaints against several European telecom operators in recent years.

Two people familiar with the situation said that the current Brussels inquiry was also related to the issues raised by Cogent.

The European Commission said yesterday it raided the offices of some telecoms providers in several countries on Tuesday but did not identify the companies nor its specific objective, in line with its usual policy.

"The commission has concerns that the companies concerned may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position," the European Union executive said in a statement.

"Internet connectivity ... is crucial for the functioning of the Internet and for end users' ability to reach Internet content with the necessary quality of service, irrespective of the location of the provider," the commission said.