For a long time, the universal service has been a stable component of regulation policy. However, during the last years, in many countries, including European Union member states, the universal service reform issue and the revision of a minimum scope of obligations have been under active discussion. One of the main aspects of these disputes refers to the rapid growth of the mobile telephony market. Communication from the Commission, which has been recently submitted for consideration in European Union member states, revises a minimum scope of universal service obligations and especially highlights that access to mobile telephony services is ensured to every inhabitant of the European Union at an affordable price, and, thus, there is no necessity for including these services in universal service policy. Nevertheless, in countries, characterized by scarcely developed telecommunications infrastructure (in most cases – in “new” member states, including Latvia) and a low penetration rate of fixed lines among households, mobile telephony services have to be considered as the only viable alternative for fixed telephony services in the context of universal service policy. We are convinced that mobile operators can serve economically unprofitable market segments and categories of customers, with lower capital formation and financial risk if compared to the fixed line operators. In this case mobile communications do not have to be examined as a technology of providing subscribers’ mobility, but as a technology which can ensure common availability of telecommunications services to inhabitants and their social protection.