Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The General Authority for Competition announced that it violated the Saudi Telecom Company “STC” with a fine of 10 million riyals, or about $ 2.6 million, for “misusing its dominant position.”
The General Authority for Competition said on Monday that it had received a complaint stating that STC had violated the competition law by abusing its dominant position in the market by “imposing special conditions on buying and selling operations when dealing with another facility in a manner that places it in a weak competitive position relative to competitive establishments, and rejecting it.” Dealing with another firm without justification, in order to limit its entry into the market.
The authority clarified that after collecting evidence and conducting investigations, it was found that STC violated the competition law by “imposing special conditions on the sale and purchase operations, which consisted in requiring a competitor not to pass any expired international traffic to the telecom company,” as well as “refusing to deal with a competing facility. Without justification to limit its entry into the market, “which is a violation of the Competition Law and its Implementing Regulations.
The authority’s statement said that STC had complained about the decision issued against it before the competent court, but that the Court of Appeal ended up supporting the committee’s decision to impose the prescribed penalties, so that the ruling becomes final.
