The European Commission said Wednesday that it has imposed a fine of 38.84 million euros on Slovak Telekom a.s. and its parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGY.PK), for having pursued during more than five years an abusive strategy to shut out competitors from the Slovak market for broadband services, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
Deutsche Telekom also received an additional fine of 31.07 million euros to ensure sufficient deterrence as well as to sanction its repeated abusive behaviour as it had already been fined in 2003 for a margin squeeze in broadband markets in Germany.
The total fine for which Deutsche Telekom is held liable is 69.91 million euros, which includes 38.84 million euros for which it is held jointly and severally liable with Slovak Telekom.
The commission concluded that Slovak Telekom refused to supply unbundled access to its local loops to competitors, and imposed a margin squeeze on alternative operators. Deutsche Telekom as parent company with decisive influence is also responsible for the conduct of its subsidiary; it is therefore jointly and severally liable for Slovak Telekom's fine.
Deutsche Telekom is a majority shareholder of Slovak Telekom, holding 51% of its shares.
Deutsche Telekom had already been fined by the Commission in 2003 for having engaged in a margin squeeze in the market for access to its unbundled local loop in Germany. In view of this repeated abusive behaviour (recidivism) the fine to be paid by Deutsche Telekom has been increased by 50%. A further increase of 20% was applied in view the size of Deutsche Telekom which had a worldwide turnover of more than 60 billion euros in 2013, to ensure that the fine has a sufficiently deterrent effect, the Commission said.
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