Telenor is one step from fines and lawsuits – Dagbladet.no

(Financial Newspaper): With yesterday’s warning from ESA’s Telenor one step away from a juicy fine for violation of the EEA competition rules. But it could have been worse, writes Finansavisen today.

– Telenor does not feel that there is nothing dramatic in that ESA open case, said communications director Torild Uribarri in March 2014, when the Commission formally opened case after raid at Fornebu in December 2012.

The time Telenor was quite alone in not knowing the drama. Yesterday it was the new firefighting Telenor premises when ESA announced its findings so far:

– Yes, the preliminary conclusion is that Telenor has violated the EEA competition rules, says Gjermund Mathisen, Director General for Competition in ESA, the Finance newspaper.

Telenor has until 11 April to respond to the serious allegations. The consequences can be huge if ESA’s final decision is that Telenor has violated the rules.

10 billion ceiling

– A warning from ESA that it might breach of the EEA Agreement prohibiting abuse of dominant position is serious. ESA may impose substantial fines of up to 10 percent of the company’s total turnover, said senior lawyer Thea Susanne Skaug in Arntzen de Besche.

– In addition, the risk of damages from clients and competitors that can detect that they have suffered a financial loss as a result of Telenor’s possible anti- competitive actions, she adds.

Both Skaug and competition director Mathisen in ESA emphasizes that a maximum fine of 10 percent of Group sales thus around ten billion kroner is a roof.

– Man does not take based on the maximum limit when such a fine determined. The guidelines say that amount of the fine depends on the seriousness of the violation and duration, and how much sales the company had in the affected markets, says Mathisen.

Telenor can therefore consider himself lucky that ESA has limited case significantly versus baseline raid in 2012.

Client can sue

One of the players who may have been victims of Telenor’s violation of the EEA competition rules is TDC, which also owns Get in Norway .

– We are not surprised by the conclusion ESA currently has landed on. We have for years experienced that Telenor operates in this way, said director of samfunskontakt in TDC Get, Øyvind Husby.

Ministry of Transport ordered Telenor in 2013 to repay 15 million, as had been taken in illegal overcharges from TDC in the period 2010-2012.

Other conditions

– The ESA addresses here are other factors, but it joins the ranks of such cases. This is possibly even more serious, since ESA says that not only had a low margin, but a negative margin in the mobile broadband market.

Remedy Adds ESA Telenor may get lawsuits from competitors TDC, Ventelo (which is acquired by Phonero), Tele2 (which today is owned by TeliaSonera) and possibly Ice, which acquired Network Norway.

– We will follow the case closely, and litigation is one of the options if the final conclusion will be that Telenor has violated the EEA competition rules, says Husby in TDC Get.

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