On Thursday 25 March, the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the appeals of Slovak Telekom and Deutsche Telekom against the judgments of the General Court of the EU that found the two operators guilty of abusing their dominant position on the Slovak market for high-speed internet services at the end of 2018 by restricting the access of alternative operators to its local loop between 2005 and 2010 (Case C-152,169/19 P).
In its judgment, the Court refers to the ‘Bronner’ judgment (case C-7/97) which established the conditions for classifying as abusive, within the meaning of Article 102 TFEU, the refusal of access to infrastructure owned by a dominant undertaking.
However, the conditions set out in the ‘Bronner’ judgment for establishing an abuse of a dominant position do not apply to the present case, as Slovak Telekom had granted access to its infrastructure while subjecting this access to unfair conditions.
Contrary to the arguments put forward by the two companies, the Court is of the opinion that the Commission was not obliged to demonstrate that access to Slovak Telekom’s local loop was indispensable for the entry of competing operators into the market, in order to be able to classify the terms and conditions of access at issue as an abuse of a dominant position.
The Court also rejected the two other pleas put forward concerning the assessment of Slovak Telekom’s pricing practice and the imputability of the infringement to Deutsche Telekom as the parent company.
While the Commission had proposed imposing higher fines in October 2014 (see EUROPE 11177/2), the Court confirms the fines revised downwards by the General Court, which amount to €38.1 million for both companies, plus €19 million for Deutsche Telekom alone.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/3ck30U9 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)