Brussels, 24/08/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is preparing to reject the complaints brought by the French operators Orange, SFR and Bouygues Télécom against the granting of the fourth 3G (broadband) mobile telephony licence to Free in late 2009, a spokesperson to the Commission indicated on Monday 23 August, confirming a report which had appeared the same day in the French daily newspaper La Tribune.
“I confirm that the Commission has informed these companies of its preliminary analysis and therefore of its intention not to pursue the matter”, the spokesperson to Joaquín Almunia, the European Competition Commissioner, told the AFP news agency. “We are currently examining the response we have had from the companies concerned to see if this may make us change our minds or confirm that there is no case to answer”, the same source added.
The complaint brought by Orange, SFR (Vivendi) and Bouygues Télécom (Bouygues) against the French state concerned the price (€240 million) for which it sold the licence to the internet access provider Free, as the three operators had had to spend €619 million each in the early 2000s in order to offer broadband mobile telephony. They argue that this price difference constitutes state aid and distorts competition. The operators are calling for their own 3G licences to be reassessed in the light of the issuing of the fourth mobile licence to Free, in December 2009, thereby reducing their prices to €240 million. In 2002, Orange and SFR managed to get the prices of their licences aligned on that granted to Bouygues: €619 million, compared to €4.95 billion initially. (L.C./transl.fl)