the Case is updated.
Four years after the Competition authority and the AUTHORITY went into action against Telenor’s headquarters at Fornebu on the suspicion that telegiganten has abused its power in the Norwegian mobile market, is the preliminary conclusion is clear:
the Competition authority will impose Telenor a historically high fine on 906 million for what the audit calls “abuse of a dominant position” in the market.
This case has significance for all who use a mobile phone in Norway. Our preliminary assessment is that Telenor has abused its dominant position by putting obstacles in the way for the establishment of a competitive third mobile network, ” says konkurransedirektør Lars Sørgard.
Violation on konkurranselovens prohibition against abuse of a dominant position is very serious, and the fee of 906 million which is now notified, emphasizes this, ” says Sørgard on.
Today’s fine is not the first Telenor has been given.
In October 2013, Telenor notified of a fine of five million dollars for violation of the electronic communications act because they derated the speed Tele2 companies for their customers in the Telenor network.
Telenor slaughtered the conclusion and thought the whole thing was characterized by hastverksarbeid.
the Accusations against Telenor is not new, but Wednesday’s notice from the Norwegian Competition authority is the first major breakthrough for those who think Telenor leverages its position in the market.
Todays alert is a result of the Competition authority and the european competition authorities in December 2012 went to the action against Telenor’s headquarters.
E24 wrote later that month about what methods the competitors believed Telenor used to squeezing them.
In an interview with E24 in april of the following year rejected Telenor Norway ceo Berit Svendsen charges point for point, and said that “we can’t see that we have done this” and that she could not comprehend “that the authorities should find something of significance”.
Today’s notice of preliminary decision suggests that the competition authorities are anything other than agree with the Telenor top.
– blazingly fast bot
director of Communications, Torild Uribarri at Telenor Norway, says the following to E24 about the current notification:
– We are surprised and disagree in the notification of decision from the Competition authority. We got this notice at eight, but now we’ll carefully go through it. We note the us they are considering to impose a huge fine.
the Competition authority writes that Norway is one of the few countries in Europe with just two nationwide mobile networks, and that the establishment of a third mobile network “has been central to achieve increased competition”.
In Norway we are large of mobile services. Healthy competition is important to ensure Norwegian consumers a good offer of these services at the lowest possible price, ” says director Gjermund Nese.
– Two abuse
the Competition authority has so far concluded that Telenor has abused its position in the market in the period 2010 to 2014 in two ways, both of which should have set the development of a third mobile network in Norway in danger.
the Audit shows that Network Norway and Tele2 (which was sold to Telia) from 2007 worked with to build its own network in Norway. In this period, Telenor is obliged to rent out access to its own networks to these players while they built out their own coverage.
– The first abuse applies to Telenor’s general terms and conditions for providing Network Norway with access to Telenor’s network in the period in which the third web was built out. These conditions reduced the profitability of the development of the third web, “says Sørgard, and continues:
– The second abuse is that Telenor has entered into exclusive agreements with four mobile operators and in this way limited the third cellular network opportunities to acquire customers,” says Sørgard.
In October 2011 began Telenor to send monthly invoices in 10 million to Tele2 and Network Norway, because Telenor felt they broke the agreement that they will not be able to rent online with both Telenor and NetCom (now Telia) at the same time (called dobbeltroamingforbudet).
While the Network Norway rented online at Telenor, rented Tele2 in NetCom and Telenor believed the two, in reality, operated as a joint company. It rejected the Network Norway and Tele2 blank.
Asker and Bærum district court came to that Network Norway and Tele2 are not to be regarded as a company, but also said that the agreement to Telenor was not unlawful. Telenor gave up the claim of over 100 million they had filed against Tele2.
– There are two areas they seem to have looked at – price terms and dobbeltroamingforbud in grossistavtaler. Especially the last, we are a bit surprised, since it was up in the Asker and Bærum district court in 2012. Which concluded the Norwegian right with that dobbeltroamingforbudet in grossistavtaler was legal according to competition rules, ” says Torild Uribarri in Telenor to E24.
the Competition authority has now made a preliminary conclusion and notified Telenor. The company has until 1. march to give its response to the notice.
– Surprised and disagree
Telenor emphasizes in a statement that Wednesday’s notice is not a final decision and that they should carefully go through the part of the authority preliminary conclusion. The phone company says that they disagree with the authority now believes.
Telenor Norway ceo Berit Svendsen, says that she is surprised by the alert, especially since the Asker and Bærum district court believed the agreements they had with those who rented mobile networks and considered that it was not contrary to the law.
– We have been waiting for four years on the feedback from the Competition. Therefore, we assume that we have to wait even a moment before Konkurransetilsynets investigation get its final conclusion, ” says Svendsen in a statement.
National kommunikasjonsmyndighet (previously known as the Norwegian Post and telecommunications authority) has for several years imposed on Telenor to rent out access to the cellular network to other mobile phone companies who want to ensure competition because one believes that Telenor can be categorized as a dominant player in the market.
Telenor writes further that the case concerns a historical relationship and that they do not expect that the alert gets “a negative impact on Telenor’s business”.
Challenges on the way
the mobile Market in Norway is dominated by Telenor and Telia, both through these trademarks and a number of subsidiaries, sitting on the large market share.
The only real challenger on the network setup page is Ice, which builds out its nationwide 4G network that will be able to compete fully with Telenor and Telia.
Currently rents Ice access with Telia to provide coverage to customers where they can’t even offer their own coverage.
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