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Austria starts competition probe after mobile price rises
2014-08-29 16:43:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Austrian competition regulator BWB announced plans to investigate the developments in mobile prices since the market was reduced to three operators by 3 Austria's takeover of Orange's operations. The telecom regulator RTR signaled already earlier this year that prices were increasing. The BWB said it would conduct a thorough review of the "highly concentrated" market in order to ensure consumers are not disadvantaged by any anti-competitive behaviour, no commercial practices are distorting or restricting the market, and fair and transparent competition is ensured. As the issue goes beyond just competition law, the BWB said it was also working with the federal cartel prosecutor, consumer association, labour chamber and RTR on the investigation. The review has started already by requesting further information from the mobile operators. T-Mobile Austria confirmed it had received such a request and was cooperating. The operator said in a statement that its pricing was based entirely on its own commercial considerations and costs. It reiterated that the high prices in the recent spectrum auction in Austria led to a substantial increase in costs, as had the higher energy prices in Austria and the continued investment in the network to meet the strong increase in demand for data services. T-Mobile said service revenues had been falling since 2006, and the tough competition was only set to intensify with the expected entry of new MVNOs in the coming months.
Tags: price
mobile
austria
competition
Category:Telecommunications
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