Spanish communications and competition regulator CNMC has imposed fines on Telefonica and Yoigo for the anti-competitive nature of the network-sharing agreement signed in August 2013, reports Europa Press. Telefonica has been fined a total of EUR 6 million and Yoigo EUR 300,000 for the deal, taking into account the respective revenues of the companies (EUR 12 billion in Telefonica Espana’s case against Yoigo’s EUR 812 million). The regulator, which has yet to officially communicate the specific grounds for its decision, initiated its investigation into the deal back in November 2013 but rejected calls from rival companies Vodafone and Orange to suspend the agreement. In its original complaint, Vodafone denounced the "virtual identity" of the respective Fusion offers of Telefonica and Yoigo, alleging that there was an "unusual degree of collaboration" between the two operators.
However, the CNMC is expected to rule that the agreement restricted competition due to the inclusion of a clause requiring Yoigo to seek Telefonica’s permission to offer 4G services to other MVNOs. The clause led to a conflict between the two operators over Yoigo’s deal to become the 4G network provider of Spanish MVNO Pepephone, which eventually tore up the agreement and moved to Telefonica’s network.
