KPN won the state tender for fixed telephony without explicitly disclosing the price indexation in the framework agreement. When it later tried to increase its prices, the state obtained an injunction, and in November 2009 a court confirmed the company must reverse the tariff increases.
The ACM, then known as Opta, started an investigation into KPN's contract and found there was no allowance in the framework agreement for price hikes. As fixed telephony is subject to regulated prices, KPN's terms offered to the state were considered discriminatory, as other large business users did not benefit from this. In December 2011, Opta fined KPN EUR 450,000 for violating its non-discrimination obligations and EUR 300,000 for transparency violations. Both were increased by 30 percent for recidivism and then by 10 percent for the lengthy investigation. Together with a violation for failure to disclose certain matters to the regulator, the total fine was EUR 1.44 million.
Opta upheld the fine in an appeal process in July 2012. KPN appealed in court and also opposed the publication of the regulatory decisions. The Rotterdam court ruled in March this year that the non-disclosure fine was not valid, but upheld the rest of Opta's decision. KPN has decided not to appeal again, allowing the decisions to be published.
