UPDATE 1-MOBILE FAIR-T-Mobile to cut data fees, ups Web services

(Adds details, CEO comments, background)

By Nicola Leske

BARCELONA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - T-Mobile (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the leading mobile operator in Germany, hopes to increase data revenue by lowering roaming charges for data usage and offering enhanced Web services, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Hamid Akhavan told reporters at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona he expects T-Mobile's reduced roaming fees to be in effect throughout the European Union by mid-year.

Other mobile operators, including Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), KPN (KPN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), 3 Group (0013.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are also cutting their roaming data fees in an effort to pre-empt a move by the European Union's telecoms regulator.

Viviane Reding said on Monday network operators had to act prior to July 1 before the EU imposed lower prices for texting or surfing the web.

T-Mobile, which competes with Vodafone and Dutch KPN's German unit E-Plus in its domestic market, plans to offer customers use of mobile Internet within Europe for 2 euros per megabyte, regardless of the chosen network operator.

For heavy data usage, customers can purchase a day pass with a transfer volume of 50 megabytes for 15 euros. Akhavan also said T-Mobile would announce new prices for text messaging soon.

T-Mobile, like other operators, wants to increase data traffic on mobile phones to increase revenue streams as mobile phone rates drop, and hopes to persuade customers to use more data by improving services