Spain's competition council CNC has imposed fines of nearly EUR 120 million on Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange for charging too much for SMS services. The fines total EUR 46.49 million for Telefonica, EUR 43.53 million for Vodafone and EUR 29.95 million for Orange. In an investigation with the telecoms regulator CMT, the competition watchdog found that the operators abused their dominant positions in the markets for wholesale origination and termination of SMS by charging excessive prices in the period 2000-2009, when the SMS market was not regulated. The high wholesale prices led to high retail prices for end-users and constituted a barrier to entry for virtual operators, the regulator said. The CNC said it decided to not impose regulatory measures, as the offences were only found through 2009 and the CMT is better placed to design any ex ante regulation.
