Deutsche Telekom AG lost a European court appeal Thursday against a fine EU regulators imposed in 2003 for price fixing that damaged Internet and phone rivals over five years.
The Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance says Deutsche Telekom abused its near-monopoly position as the owner of most German phone and Internet infrastructure by charging its competitors prices that were higher than the retail prices paid by its own customers.
The ruling upholds the European Commission's fine of 12.6 million (US$14.7 million) on the company. It said Deutsche Telekom could not claim that it could be excused from EU antitrust action because German regulators had approved its prices at an earlier stage.
European Union antitrust regulators said the court judgment set a precedent for similar cases, such as Spain's Telefonica SA's pending appeal against a 151 million (US$206 million) fine it received last year for setting wholesale Internet prices too high to allow rivals to turn a profit.
"The court ruling ... confirms that dominant operators who have a regulatory obligation to supply access to their networks cannot evade this obligation through a margin-squeeze price policy," the Commission said.
Former state-owned telecoms monopolies are still the biggest players in European countries.
The European Commission blames governments for not doing enough to open up the market which it says would lower prices, offer better services and get more people online.
