Monday, April 27, 2009

Europe: DG Competition opened market abuse cases against Polish and Slovak incumbent operators

[WSJ] The European Commission Monday opened antitrust cases against the Polish and Slovak telecommunications incumbents, suspecting the two operators of market abuse.

The commission antitrust authorities raided Telekomunikacja Polska SA's (TPS.WA) offices in September 2008, searching for evidence. The commission, said it is investigating company practices which "inhibit third parties from successfully providing broadband services on the downstream market on the basis of either bitstream or unbundled local loops."

The commission also is examining whether the Polish operator bought wholesale broadband access services in order to hinder competitors.

In the Slovak case, the commission raided Slovak Telecom AS's offices in January. It suspects the operator has refused to give access to infrastructure and might have used a margin squeeze to make it difficult for alternative operators to compete.

The commission will also examine a possible margin squeeze and other potentially abusive behavior related to wholesale and retail broadband access services in Slovakia.

EU Opens Antitrust Cases Against Polish, Slovak Telecom Cos

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