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EU court cuts Deutsche Telekom antitrust fine by a third

[December 13, 2018] By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's second-highest court on Thursday slashed an EU antitrust fine handed down to Deutsche Telekom four years ago by about a third to 19 million euros ($21.6 million), saying that EU regulators had erred in calculating the penalty.

A logo of Germany's telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom AG is seen before the company's annual news conference in Bonn, Germany, March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

Europe's largest telecoms provider and its Slovak Telekom unit were sanctioned by the European Commission in 2014 for squeezing out competitors by charging unfair wholesale prices in Slovakia.

The EU competition enforcer said the anti-competitive practice to shut out competitors from the Slovak market for broadband services lasted more than five years.

The two companies were given a joint fine of 38.84 million euros while Deutsche Telekom was also hit with an additional 31-million-euro penalty.

The companies subsequently challenged the EU decision at the Luxembourg-based General Court.

The Court said a parent company's liability can exceed that of the subsidiary if there are factors which reflect the former's conduct for which it is held liable.

However in this case, what was at fault was the basis used by the Commission for assessing the additional fine.

"Deutsche Telekom's turnover is not capable of reflecting its individual conduct in the infringement at issue and ... it therefore could not serve as a basis for the calculation of an additional fine imposed on the latter," judges said.

They also cut the joint fine from 38.84 million euros to 38.06 million euros.

The Commission can appeal to the EU Court of Justice but only on points of law.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Adrian Croft)


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