Pretoria – Telkom will have to pay a penalty of R449 million, which had been imposed on the company by the Competition Tribunal last year for abusing its dominance in the telecommunications market between 1999 and 2004.
This is as a result of the Competition Commission and Telkom SA Limited reaching an agreement.
According to a statement by the Competition Commission on Wednesday, the commission and Telkom have reached a settlement agreement on the basis that the commission withdraws its cross appeal and Telkom withdraws its appeal from the Competition Appeal Court.
“The withdrawal of the appeal and cross-appeal was approved by the Competition Appeal Court on 12 April and the court’s confirmation was communicated to Telkom on 16 April.
“The effect of these withdrawals is that the matter is now officially finalised and that Telkom will pay an administrative penalty of R449 Million, in accordance with the Competition Tribunal order, which was handed on 7 August 2012,” explained the commission.
The Competition Commission had received a complaint from the South African Vans Association (SAVA) and 20 other internet service providers (ISP’s), which it then referred to the Competition Tribunal.
The Tribunal ruled in August 2012 that “Telkom leveraged its upstream monopoly in the facilities market to advantage its own subsidiary in the competitive value added network market...Telkom’s conduct caused harm to both competitors and consumers alike and impeded competition and innovation in the dynamic VANS market”.
When Telkom appealed the tribunal’s ruling, the commission prepared a case to defend the appeal and also took the opportunity to raise issues it was not entirely satisfied with in the ruling.
“With Telkom withdrawing its appeal, the commission also withdrew its cross appeal, as it had been largely satisfied with the initial ruling,” said the commission. – SAnews.gov.za
