Portugal Telecom and Telefonica have received a total fine of EUR 79 million from the European Commission as the result of a non-competition agreement by the operators. The European Commission said that the non-competition clause, valid from September 2010 to February 2011, was contrary to EU law, pointing out it will not tolerate anti-competitive practices by incumbent operators. The EC fined Portugal Telecom EUR 12.3 million and Telefonica EUR 66.9 million.
The operators agreed to not compete against each other in Spain and Portugal when they reached agreement in 2010 for Telefonica to take full control of their Brazilian joint venture Vivo. The non-competition agreement was ended in 2011 when the EU opened its anti-trust investigation, the EC said.
Telefonica said it plans to appeal the decision to the European Court of Justice, as "it has not, at any time, breached the law". The Spanish operator said the disputed competition clause was subjected to a compliance assessment, and after determining that it could not be applied legally, it was eliminated from the agreement. Furthermore, the agreement was made public to regulatory authorities at the time and "did not alter in any way the development of the market", the company said. Portugal Telecom issued a similar statement, saying the fine was "unjustified" and it will also consider legal action.
