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Tag: telefonicas
Top EU court upholds Telefonica's EUR 152 mln antitrust fine
2014-07-10 14:59:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld a fine of EUR 151.9 million imposed on Telefonica for abusing its dominant position in the Spanish broadband market from 2001 to 2006. Telefonica had appealed an earlier decision by the General Court that it must pay the fine first imposed by the European Commission back in July 2007. "In today's judgment, the Court dismisses Telefonica's appeal in its entirety," said the ECJ in a statement, adding that the incumbent operator's behaviour had resulted in "potential anticompetitive effects that may have excluded competitors, who were at least as efficient as Telefonica, which is sufficient to establish that the practice of squeezing margins was abusive." The 2007 fine was the largest ever imposed on a telecoms operator in Europe and referred to Telefonica's conduct in the local broadband market between 2001 and 2006. The EC claimed Telefonica had deliberately charged regional and national wholesale rates to competitors that were too close to retail prices, thus forcing its rivals to make losses if they wanted to match Telefonica's prices. At the time the Commission said the size of the fine matched the "gravity and duration" of Telefonica's breach of EU law, which harmed competitors, consumers and businesses alike.
EU clears Telefonica's takeover of German E-Plus
2014-07-02 12:31:05| Telecom - Topix.net
The EU Commission said Wednesday the deal is conditional on Telefonica selling up to 30 percent of the merged company's network capacity to service providers to boost competition.
Tags: german
takeover
clears
eplus
Prisa accepts Telefonica's EUR 725 mln offer for Digital+
2014-05-08 09:15:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Prisa's board of directors has accepted Telefonica's EUR 725 million offer for its stake in Spanish pay-TV platform Digital+. In a statement to Spain's market regulator CNMV, Prisa said that the companies now have 30 days to close the details of the agreement. The acquisition of Prisa's 56 percent stake in Digital+ will raise Telefonica's stake in the broadcaster to 78 percent. The remaining 22 percent is held by the Spanish unit of Italian broadcaster Mediaset. Digital+, which is also said to have interested companies such as Al Jazeera, News Corporation, Liberty Global and Vivendi, comes with a large customer base in the form of the 1.6 million subscribers to Spanish pay-TV channel Canal+. Highly-indebted Prisa is said to have initially sought well over EUR 1 billion for its stake, but Telefonica's final offer values the company at 45 percent less than four years ago, when it acquired 22 percent of Digital+ for EUR 500 million. Prisa's net loss more than doubled last year to EUR 648.7 million euros, prompting shareholders to approve an agreement in December to restructure around EUR 3 billion of debt to give it time to sell broadcasting assets and its Spanish-language book publishing divisions.
Tags: offer
digital
eur
accepts
EU antitrust concerns on Telefonica's German buy
2014-02-27 14:54:25| Telecom - Topix.net
EU Commission spokesman Antoine Colombani said Thursday a confidential letter detailing the competition concerns has been sent to the companies involved.
Tags: buy
german
concerns
antitrust
EU watchdog investigates Telefonica's German buy
2013-12-20 18:17:41| Telecom - Topix.net
Europe's top antitrust regulator says it has launched an in-depth investigation of Telefonica SA's proposed 8.55 billion euro purchase of E-Plus, the German arm of Dutch telecommunications company Royal KPN NV.
Tags: buy
german
investigates
watchdog