EU declares Deutsche Telekom concession

German phone giant Deutsche Telekom has reached a concessionary deal with EU regulators over the abuse of ‘line sharing’ fees in its fixed telecoms network, or 'local loops.'

European trustbusters have proposed new, reduced tariffs for telecommunications competitors to “terminate the [..] margin squeeze” created by DT’s market behaviour.

The European Commission late on Monday said the commitment “leads to a significant reduction in the line sharing fee that competitors have to pay to Deutsche Telekom for shared access.”

“In spite of a 2001 EU obligation to provide competitors shared access to its local loops, only a few competitors found it profitable to make use of shared access,” said EU competition commissioner Mario Monti.

“Deutsche Telekom meanwhile has become a quasi-monopolist for broadband access at retail level.”

The move signals a bid by the EU executive to stave off further antitrust action from its inquiry into potential abuse of DT’s dominant position for the provision of broadband access to its fixed telecommunications network.

The company has a 90 per cent hold on broadband and narrowband retail access in the German market.

In May 2003, the commission fined DT €12.6 million for market abuse in telecommunications.

 

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