ANKARA - The Competition Board decided on Monday to sentence Turkcell to pay 21 trillion 822 billion Turkish liras (TL) in fine and Telsim to pay 8 trillion 580 billion TL in fine upon an investigation in national circulation agreement in GSM.
Earlier, Is-Tim, the owner of Aria, applied to the Competition Board with accusation of ''Turkcell and Telsim misused their dominance since a national circulation agreement was not signed with Aria''.
The Competition Board assessed the application and stressed that it was charged and authorized also in market of telecommunication against actions preventing or restricting competition.
Competition Board Deputy Chairman Mustafa Parlak said, ''Turkcell Communication Services Corp. and Telsim Mobile Telecommunication Services Corp. are dominant in GSM telecommunication infrastructure services. Enterprises acting in GSM services market, have to benefit from these infrastructure at the level of entering the market.''
''Turkcell and Telsim rejected request of Is-Tim to benefit from GSM telecommunication infrastructure through national circulation. Their rejection was not based on objective reasons. The Competition Board ruled that Turkcell and Telsim violated Article 6 of Law on Protection of Competition by misusing their dominance in the infrastructure services market. Therefore, the Competition Board decided to sentence Turkcell to pay 21 trillion 822 billion Turkish liras (TL) in fine and Telsim to pay 8 trillion 580 billion TL in fine,'' he added.
The Competition Board also ruled that some arrangements should be made in the Turkish Telecommunication Board to put an end to violations of dominance in the market.
(UK-AÖ) 09.06.2003