(Bratislava 21.5.2009) The Council of the Antimonopoly Office of the SR confirmed the first-instance decision and the fine in amount of 29 376 618 € (885 000 000,- SKK) to the company Slovak Telekom, a.s. for abuse of a dominant position.

The Council has concluded that Slovak Telekom, a.s. (hereinafter only “ST”) abused the dominant position by non-making the local lines accessible to the other undertakings – rivals providing telecommunication services to the end customers. By this conduct ST caused that markets being connected to the local lines usage had never been opened or had been opened only in a limited extent for the rivals (e.g. the area of voice or internet services provision). The ST’s fixed public telecommunication network represents the essential facility within which ST controls the access to local lines, thus essential input for connected telecommunication services provision.

 

By non-making the local lines accessible ST restricted the possibility of rivals to provide services to customers and to apply the most modern technologies independently on already offered ST’s products. Such longtime distorted competitive environment in the market of electronic communication services had also negative impacts on consumers who could not benefit from competitive pressure in the form of lower prices, better-quality products and services, implementation of new technologies and so forth. 

 

This conduct is much more serious due to the fact that the electronic communications are very dynamic market and the key factor on the path toward an information society.