Telkom faces fresh penalties
|Published
Picture: Leon Nicholas. Picture: Leon Nicholas.
The Competition Commission is engaging Telkom in an attempt to get a settlement agreement for the second case of anti-competitive behaviour lodged against the state-controlled telecommunications company.
This follows the Competition Tribunal imposing a fine of R449 million on Telkom after finding it had refused to give competitors access to an essential facility and had induced its customers not to deal with its competitors.
Competition commissioner Shan Ramburuth said this week that the second case involved similar issues and was yet to be heard by the tribunal. However, the commission had been engaging Telkom “in the very recent past” about settling the case in view of the findings of the first cases, he said.
Ramburuth declined to comment further on the commission’s engagement with Telkom because it was something the commission had just started.
Telkom has lodged an appeal against the R449m fine and the commission subsequently lodged a cross-appeal, seeking to increase the fine. This again raises the spectre of a R3 billion fine being imposed on Telkom.
In its notice of appeal, Telkom argued the tribunal had committed various errors of law and had interpreted evidence incorrectly. Telkom contends that a more appropriate fine would be R6.8m.
Competition lawyers previously expressed surprise at Telkom’s suggestion that alternative remedies be considered because it had shown no willingness to reach a settlement. – Roy Cokayne