CyTA, the state owned telecom giant, which had been fined CYP 2.2 mln for abuse of its dominant position in the mobile phone market and for violation of article 6 of Law 207/89 by the Competition Commission will appeal the ruling.
The Commission however, decided that CyTA had not violated the law on price fixing. The charges had been brought by areeba, the island?s alternative mobile service provider, accusing CyTA of lowering its prices at the time when it announced its own price range.
This is the second largest fine imposed by the Competition Commission. The first one, imposed also on CyTA was for CYP 20 mln, which even though paid by CyTA, was subsequently challenged at the courts and the Supreme Court had ordered CyTA not to pay.
Although the latest decision of the Competition Commission is likely to be challenged, but since CyTA is state-owned, the Authority is nevertheless expected to pay the fine, since in any event, its profits will be transferred to the state in the form of dividend.
Directory listing
A week before the latest decision, the Competition Commission had slapped CyTA with a CYP 50.000 fine for denying competitors access to directory listings in violation of the law.
Telecom Regulator Vasos Pyrgos told reporters that his office found CyTA guilty of not sharing phone listings with other operators. The matter was brought to his attention after Telepassport lodged a complaint late last year.
On investigating the matter, the regulator found that CyTA failed to give its four competitors adequate information on its 192 service even though it was obliged to do so following the liberalisation of the telecoms market.
For example, for the entry “Nicosia municipality,” Telepassport claimed that CyTA gave them only one central phone number, while CyTA itself had in its database a whole list of sub-listings under that entry, including the mayor’s office, cultural services and fax numbers.
The allegations were proved true during a “raid” by agents of the Telecoms Regulator at CyTA offices.
In its defence, CyTA stated it did not break any laws because it had provided other operators with the minimum necessary data it was obliged to. And as a “goodwill gesture,” the organisation promised to supply additional information in the future, which it did shortly after.
Authorities were however unimpressed by the move and imposed the fine adding that CyTA should have shared the information from the start.
Directory call rates:
1. Thunderworx dial 11800; charge: 14 cents from landline, 16 cents from mobile
2. Infote dial 11822; charge: 14 cents from landline, 18 cents from mobile plus 0.15 cents per second
3. CallSat dial 11833; charge: 17 cents from landline and mobile
4. Telepassport dial 11888; charge: 14.8 cents from landline, 15.8 cents from mobile
5. CyTA dial 11892; charge: 18.8 cents from landline and mobile.
