Telenor to answer European regulator over its mobile-data services

The Nordic region's largest phone operator, Telenor ASA, is currently facing an official European probe over allegations that it violated antitrust laws regarding its pricing policies on mobile-data services. Bloomberg said the EFTA Surveillance Authority will be determining whether Telenor and its Telenor Norge unit are guilty the circumstances that resulted to an illegal margin squeeze on its market rivals by charging lower prices. The regulator oversees the compliance of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein of the European Economic Area rules, according to a statement released today.

Director Per Andreas Bjoergan of the authority's competition and state aid unit had said in a statement, "The decision to open proceedings does not signify that the authority has made a finding of infringement or prejudge in any way the outcome of the investigation; it only means that the Authority will proceed with an in-depth investigation."

Aside from Telenor's pricing policies, the agency said it will be examining the company's retail agreements with its customers for mobile telecommunications services has signs of market foreclosure concerns.

Bloomberg said the decision to probe Telenor follows a series of raids conducted by the regulator and the country's competition watchdog at the company's facilities in Norway two years ago. At that time, the agency had said that they believe Telenor and its subsidiary has violated European Economic Area rules on competition.

Spokeswoman Torild Uribarri for the Fornebu, Norway-based company assured Bloomberg over the phone that the company will continue to work closely with the regulators. She said, "This is not dramatic for us, it's more like the formal decision that they would like to continue their investigation. We think that we have acted in accordance with the competition law."

Bloomberg said that the Surveillance Authority historically do not set deadline on completing their competition probes and has fined companies a maximum of 10% of their yearly sales.

Tags

Telenor ASA anti-competition probe, EFTA Surveillance Authority, Telenor mobile-data services pricing probe

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