Association of service providers complains at CADE, Anatel against Telefônica, TIM, Claro about sale of Oi Móvel, at CADE, Anatel
07/26/2022
The Brazilian Association of Competitive Telecommunications Service Providers (TelComp) will file this week a formal complaint with antitrust regulator CADE and telecoms regulator Anatel against Telefónica’s subsidiary in Brazil (Telefônica Brasil, owner of Vivo), Telecom Italia’s TIM, and América Móvil’s Claro about the sale of Oi Móvel.
Telefônica, TIM, and Claro appealed to the courts this month because they disagreed with the values imposed by Anatel for the offer of wholesale products to competitors. For data traffic, the regulator stipulated R$2.6 per gigabyte (GB). But the telcos’ proposals range from R$16 to R$48 per GB.
These offers are the compensation that the regulators imposed on the three telcos to give their approval to Oi Móvel’s purchase. They are remedies, or conditional measures, to ensure competition in the market with the elimination of a competitor.
The incumbents decided to challenge the prices in the approval phase. They asked Anatel to reexamine the case. In court, they obtained injunctions that suspended the obligation to submit offers.
TelComp “condemns the attitude of operators with significant market power that, before the closing of the acquisition of control of Oi Móvel, made a public commitment to society to fully comply with the remedies imposed by Anatel and CADE promptly.”
The entity will ask the courts for its inclusion in the case as a third interested party, Luiz Henrique Barbosa, head of TelComp, told Valor. Claro’s case is in the 1st Federal Civil Court of the Judiciary Section of the Federal District (Brasília); those of Vivo and TIM are in secrecy.
Mr. Barbosa pointed out that the telcos’ retail price is at R$2.8 per GB. “The price Anatel has set is not detached from reality, nor is it a subsidy to competitors. It is not below cost. If they [the three telcos] say this, it is because they are practicing predatory pricing.”
Anatel and CADE officials are studying measures, including undoing the sale if the telcos do not accept the fixed prices. “If it is not possible to undo the operation, they can be fined,” said Mr. Barbosa.
*By Ivone Santana — São Paulo