OREANDA-NEWS. March 25, 2009. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that "CentreTelecom" OJSC violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" (abusing dominant position), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The case was initiated upon a petition of "STsS Sovintel" Ltd., which provides local, intra-zonal, and intercity/ international telephone communication.

"CentreTelecom" OJSC has dominant position on the market of services for connecting telecommunication networks and traffic transmission at the local and intra-zonal levels in some regions of the Central Federal District, as well as on the market of telephone services.

Investigating the case, FAS Russia established that "CentreTelecom" OJSC was imposing unfavorable contract conditions upon "STsS Sovintel" Ltd of the contract for connecting and interacting telecommunication networks at the local level. In particular, "CentreTelecom" OJSC insisted that the contract should include provisions restricting traffic transmission from the telecommunication network of a connected provider, depending on its category. Moreover, "CentreTelecom" OJSC refused to conclude a contract with "STsS Sovintel" Ltd. for connecting an intra-zonal telecommunication network to its local telephone network.

The FAS Russia's Commission has concluded that actions undertaken by "CentreTelecom" OJSC infringe the interests if "STsS Sovintel" Ltd. as a provider of intra-zonal and intercity / international telephone communication, infringe the rights of a connected provider for optimal use of its own communications infrastructure in offering communication services to the end users, which results in restricting competition n the market of connecting and traffic transmission and can lead to restricting competition on the market of local, intra-zonal telecommunication.

Traffic routing, requested by "STsS Sovintel" Ltd. in the above situations, does not contravene the statutory requirement in communications; and traffic routing is used in relations among other service providers.

"Actions of "CentreTelecom" OJSC make it practically impossible to develop competitive environment on the market of the services of intra-zonal telecommunication, and infringe the interest of the service providers that have fulfilled all regulatory requirements for creating their own network of intra-zonal communication", - said Anatoly Golomolzin, Deputy Head of FAS Russia.

Upon processing the case, FAS Russia made a decision on issuing a determination to "CentreTelecom" aimed at stopping the violations.