UPDATE: Swisscom's CHF333 Million Mobile Phone Fine Is Lifted
April 20 2011 - 10:53AM
Dow Jones News
Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX) no longer has to pay a CHF333 million
($374 million) fine after the Swiss Federal Supreme Court Wednesday
decided it had not abused its position to overcharge mobile phone
termination fees.
The court upheld Swisscom's appeal against the fine which was
imposed by the country's Competition Commission following an
investigation launched in 2002.
Swisscom had not set aside any provisions to pay for fines
arising from the inquiry, which looked at mobile phone termination
charges levied by operators in Switzerland.
Mobile termination charges are the charges that a mobile phone
operator levies on other telecommunication providers for
terminating calls on its network.
Chairman Anton Scherrer said, "We have just received some good
news. The Federal Supreme Court has confirmed the original fine of
CHF333 million is to be lifted."
Scherrer said the court had decided that Swisscom did not
dominate the mobile phone market in Switzerland completely, and
operated fully in line with legal requirements.
The matter began in October 2002 when the Competition Commission
launched an investigation into mobile phone termination charges of
Swisscom, Sunrise and Orange, the three mobile phone operators in
Switzerland.
The Competition Commission imposed the fine after finding that
Swisscom held a dominant position in the market and had abused that
by levying unreasonably high charges on other telecoms providers
between April 1 2004 and 31 May 2005.
It also continued its investigation into the mobile phone
termination charges for all three companies for the period after 31
May 2005.
In its ruling, the Federal Supreme Court said Swisscom did not
act improperly when setting mobile phone termination charges and
there was no legal basis to conclude the company occupies a
dominant position in the market.
"Today's ruling by the Federal Supreme Court confirms Swisscom's
view that it negotiates mobile termination charges with the other
telecommunications providers," Swisscom said in a statement.
"If the other providers are dissatisfied with the outcome of the
negotiations they can file a complaint to the Competition
Commission. Swisscom is therefore not able to set binding
prices."
-By John Revill, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 8042 ;
john.revill@dowjones.com
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